SOUTH  GAROLII 

ALICE  R.HUGER.  SMITH 
D.E.HUGBR  SMITH 


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NA7238*'^Wchrilb.    148863 

The   dvrelling 
houses  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina 


NA7238  Arch.  Lib.  1488o3 

C3S4 

PERMANENT  RESERVE 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2009  witii  funding  from 

NCSU  Libraries 


http://www.arcliive.org/details/dwellingliousesofOOsmit 


THE  DWELLING  HOUSES 
OF  CHARLESTON 

SOUTH  CAROLINA 


THIS  LIMITED  EDITIOX  HAS  BEEX  PRINTED 
FROM  TYPE  AXD  THE  TYPE  DISTRIBUTED 


JiLtt'ji^iSmitK  . 


THE 

DWELLING  HOUSES 
OF  CHARLESTON 

SOUTH  CAROLINA 


BY 

ALICE  R.  HUGER  SMITH 

AND 

D.  E.  HUGER  SMITH 

WITH  128  ILLUSTRATIOXS 

FROM  DRAWINGS  BY  ALICE  R.  HUGER  SMITH, 

PHOTOGRAPHS,  AND  ARCHITECTURAL  DRAWINGS  BY 

ALBERT  SIMONS 


.■*■ 

%-, 

r," 

■m  . 

PHILADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

1917 


COPYRIGHT.  1917.  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


PUBLISHED  SEPTEMBER.  1917 


PRINTED  BY  J,  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,  U.S.A. 


TO 
MOTTE   ALSTON   READ 

IN  RECOGNITION  OF  THE  STMPATHY 
AND  HELP  ALWAYS  UNOBTRUSIVELY 
AT    THE    SERVICE    OF   HIS    FRIENDS 


148863 


PREFACE 

IN  this  volume  the  authors  have  endeavored  to  tell 
the  story  of  the  older  dwelling  houses  of  Charleston 
and  the  families  inhabiting  them. 

It  has  not  been  their  object  to  list  or  to  describe 
these  dwelling  houses  after  the  manner  of  a  guide-book, 
but  to  show  how  the  fashions  of  its  architecture,  though 
imported  and  constantly  modified  by  new  ideas  brought 
chiefly  from  England,  have  yet  maintained  local  char- 
acteristics, resulting  in  quite  a  distinctive  style  which  has 
steadily  persisted  and  been  developed. 

This  development  lies  spread  before  us  in  the  Charles- 
ton streets,  where  the  houses  of  successive  periods  stand 
side  by  side,  so  little  altered  that  the  stranger  is  rather 
struck  by  the  atmosphere  and  interest  of  the  place  as  a 
whole  than  by  the  beauty  or  quaintness  of  a  few  out- 
standing edifices. 

In  trying  to  convey  this  impression  we  have  naturally 
had  to  select  out  of  the  many  available  examples  houses 
which,  by  their  marked  type,  show  best  this  thread  of 
architectural  growth,  and  we  have  treated  of  the  families 
which  constructed  or  dwelt  in  these  houses.  It  is  mani- 
festly impossible  to  treat,  even  in  a  volume  of  this  size, 
of  every  historic  relic,  but  this  necessary  restraint  has 
been  harder  because  each  public  or  private  building  has 
a  history  of  its  own,  and  about  no  place  in  this  country 
has  a  greater  mass  of  historical  tradition  collected. 


PREFACE 

Besides  tlie  authorities  quuted  throughout  the  text, 
we  owe  tlianks  to  many  kind  friends  for  help  and  infor- 
mation, and  espeeially  so  to  those  who  have  enabled  us 
to  fill  our  pages  with  illustrations  of  the  interiors  of 
their  homes. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate  fully  tlie  many 
ways  in  which  we  have  been  helped  by  Miss  Fitzsimons 
and  the  staff  of  the  Charleston  Library,  and  by  Miss 
Mabel  Webber,  Secretary  of  the  South  Carolina  His- 
torical Society.  The  interest  of  these  ladies  in  our  work 
has  been  constant,  and  they  have  brought  to  our  atten- 
tion nuich  that  has  been  of  value.  We  have  l)een  assisted 
too  in  gathering  our  illustrations  of  ironwork  by  Mrs. 
Sanmel  G.  Stoney,  who  put  at  our  disposal  her  own 
notes  on  that  subject.  By  the  kindness  of  ]Mrs.  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney  we  have  been  allowed  access  to  the 
autograj)h  accounts  of  the  })uilding  of  Chief  Justice 
Pinckney's  house,  and  we  owe  to  her  a  photograph  of  its 
ruins  after  the  fire  of  1861.  Our  thanks  are  also  due  to 
Messrs.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons  for  permission  to  reprint 
a  description  of  this  house  from  "  FA'\7a\  Pinckney,"  by 
Harriott  Horry  Ravenel,  published  by  them  in  1896. 

Also  thanks  are  due  to  the  following:  To  Messrs. 
Harper  &  Brothers  for  allowing  the  reproduction  of 
certain  of  the  illustrations  by  Alice  R.  Huger  Smith, 
which  appeared  in  Harper  s  Magazine,  October,  1915. 

To  ]Mr.  Frederick  F.  Sherman  for  a  similar  per- 
mission as  to  her  drawings  appearing  in  Art  in  Ameriea. 

Also  to  Hon.  Henry  A.  M.  Smith  and  the  South 
Carolina  Historical  Society  for  allowing  the  use  of  his 


PREFACE 

copy  of  the  "  Grand  JModel  of  Charles  Town  "  as  it 
appeared  in  the  South  Carolina  Historical  and  Genea- 
logical Magazine,  January,  1908. 

From  Mayor  Courtenay's  "  Year  Book  of  Charles- 
ton," 1884,  we  reproduce  the  Hunter  ]\Iap  bearing  date 
1739,  and  from  that  of  1883  the  facsimile  of  an  impression 
of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Lords  Proprietors. 

We  have  not  considered  it  necessary  to  note  such 
recent  architectural  changes  and  additions  as  those  made 
during  the  past  year. 

A.  R.  H.  S. 
Chaeleston,  S.  C,  August,  1917 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

CHARLESTON  AND  ITS  STORY 17 

I.    THE  EARLIEST  BUILDINGS  AND  THE  FREQUENT  FIRES    29 
II.     BREWTON'S  CORNER  AND  THE  OLD  HOUSES  THERE ...     41 

III.  VANDERHORST  CREEK,  WHITE   POINT,  AND  "CHURCH 

STREET  CONTINUED" 55 

IV.  A  GROUP  OF  OLD  HOUSES  ON  MEETING  STREET 75 

V.    THE    HOUSES    BUILT    BY    MILES    BREWTON,    ROBERT 

PRINGLE  AND  WILLIAM  BRANFORD 91 

VI.    EXAMPLES   OF   ARCHITECTLTIAL  DE^'ELOPMENT   FOL- 
LOWING THE  REVOLUTION 129 

VII.    THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  GRANVILLE'S  BASTION 157 

VIII.     THE  FORTIFICATIONS  ON  WHITE  POINT,  AND  THE  DE- 
VELOPMENT OF  EAST  AND  SOUTH  B.\TTERIES 171 

IX.     SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING  STREET 185 

X.     SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD  STREETS 205 

XL     TRADD,  ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 235 

XII.    FROM  THE  CITY  HALL  TO  THE  OLD  EXCHANGE,  COLLE- 
TON SQUARE,  AND  RHETTSBURY 257 

XIII.  ANSONBOROUGH,    LAURENS    SQUARE,    AND    GENERAL 

GADSDEN'S  LAND 279 

XIV.  MAZYCKBORO,    WRAGGBORO,    THE    CITADEL,    THE 

ORPHAN  HOUSE,  AND  THE  FREE  SCHOOL  LAND 295 

XV.     THE    GI-EBE    OF   ST.    PHILIPS   AND    THE   VILLAGE   OF 

HARLESTON 309 

XM.     BUILDING  MATERIALS 337 

XVII.    THE    BUILDING   OF   CHARLES    PINCKNEY'S    HOUSE    IN 

COLLETON  SQUARE 359 

7 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

SASS  GATEWAY  ON  LEGARE  STREET Frontispiece 

THE  GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  LORDS  PROPRLETORS  OF  CAROLINA     18 
"THE  ICHNOGRAPHY  OF  CHARLES  TOWN  AT  HIGH  WATER".       21 

THE  "GRAND  MODELL"  OF  CHARLES  TOWN 22 

THE  OLD  ST.  PHILIP'S,  FROM  "THE  GENTLEMAN'S  MAGAZINE  " 

OF  JUNE,  1753 33 

COLONEL   ROBERT   BREWTON'S   HOUSE,    BUILT   BEFORE    1733    44 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
LOOKING  PAST  THE  CORNER  OF  ROBERT  BREWTON'S  HOUSE    45 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
RESIDENCE  FOR  "MANY  YEARS  "  BEFORE  1762  OF  JACOB  MOTTE, 

PUBLIC  TREASURER. 51 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

KITCHEN  OF  JACOB  MOTTE'S  HOUSE 53 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

FORT  MECHANIC  IN  1796 59 

Water  Color  by  Charles  Eraser 
MRS.  MARSHALL'S  HOUSE,  BUILT  BY  GEORGE  EVELEIGH  BE- 
TWEEN 1743  AND  1753 61 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

DRAWING-ROOM  OF  THE  EVELEIGH  HOUSE 65 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 

PLAN  OF  EVELEIGH  HOUSE 67 

Plan  to  Scale  by  Albert  Simons 
HOUSES  BUILT  BY  GEORGE  EVELEIGH,  GEORGE  MATTHEWS, 

AND  THOMAS  YOUNG  IN  "  CHURCH  STREET  CONTINUED  "     69 
Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

THE  CURVE  OF  CHURCH  STREET 71 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

STAIRCASE  IN  THE  HUGER  HOUSE 79 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
DRAWLNG-ROOM  IN  THE  HUGER  HOUSE  83 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE.   STEPS  FROM  HOUSE  TO  COURTYARD     94 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
THE  BREWTON-ALSTON-PRINGLE  HOUSE,  BUILT  SOON  AFTER 


1765. 


95 


Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
THE  LOWER  HALL  OF  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 96 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
THE  UPPER  HALL  OF  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 97 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
PLAN  OF  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE  AND  GROUNDS 98 

By  Albert  Simons 

9 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

CARRIAGE-HOUSE  OF  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 100 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
NORTHWEST  ARCH  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 101 

DRA^\nxG  BY  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
SERVANTS'   HOUSE   FROM   THE   GARDEN— MILES   BREWTON'S 

HOUSE 102 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
PLAN  OF  SECOND  FLOOR  OF  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 103 

By  Albert  Simons 
DETAIL  OF  ROOM  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE,  FIRST  FLOOR  105 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
DRAWING-ROOM  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 107 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  MANTEL  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE  109 

By  Albert  Simons 
MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  DOOR  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE. 

FIRST  FLOOR 110 

By  Albert  Simons 
PLAN  OF  PRINGLE  AND  HORRY  HOUSES,  CORNER  OF  MEETING 

AND  TRADD  STREETS Ill 

By  Albert  Simons 
PLAN  OF  SECOND  FLOOR  OF  HORRY  HOUSE 112 

By  Albert  Simons 
THE  HORRY  HOUSE,  BUILT  BETWEEN  1751  AND  1767,  NOW  THE 

RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  WM.  H.  DUNKIN 113 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
THE  LOWER  FLOOR  OF  THE  HORRY  HOUSE 115 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  THE  ENTRANCE  HALL  OF  THE  HORRY 

HOUSE 116 

By  Albert  Simons 
MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  THE  DRAWING-ROOM  OF  THE  HORRY 

HOUSE 117 

By  Albert  Simons 

MANTEL  IN  HORRY  HOUSE 118 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 

PIAZZA  OF  THE  ROBERT  PRINGLE  HOUSE 121 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
ENTRANCE  OF  HOUSE  BUILT  1774  BY  JUDGE  ROBERT  PRINGLE 
ON  TRADD  STREET,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  ARTHUR 

RUTLEDGE  YOUNG 123 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

MANTEL  IN  THE  ROBERT  PRINGLE  HOUSE,  FIRST  FLOOR 125 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MANIGAULT  HOUSE  IN  WRAGGBORO,  BUILT  BETWEEN  1790  AND 

1797,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  SIDNEY  RIGGS 135 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

PLAN  OF  MANIGAULT  HOUSE  AND  GROUNDS 138 

By  Albert  Simons 

10 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

GARDEN  ENTRANCE  OF  MANIGAULT  HOUSE 139 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
MANTEL  IN  MANIGAULT  HOUSE 140 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
DOORWAY  IN  MANIGAULT  HOUSE 141 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
JUDGE  KING'S  HOUSE,  NOW  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL,  BUILT  IN  1806  143 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
PLANS  OF  THE  NATHANIEL  RUSSELL  HOUSE   AND    THE  RAD- 

CLIFFE-KING  HOUSE 144 

By  Albert  Simons 
WINDOW  IN  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL,  FORMERLY  THE  RESIDENCE  OF 

JUDGE  KING 145 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
DOORWAY  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL,  FORMERLY  THE  RESIDENCE  OF 

JUDGE  KING 147 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
HOUSE  BUILT  BY  NATHANIEL  RUSSELL,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE 

OF  MR.  F.  J.  PELZER,  Jr 149 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
WINDOWS  ON  STAIRWAY  OF  RUSSELL  HOUSE 150 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
STAIRCASE  IN  RUSSELL  HOUSE 151 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MANTELS  IN  TWO  OF  THE  OVAL  ROOMS  IN  RUSSELL  HOUSE. ...   153 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MANTEL  IN  OVAL  ROOM  ON  THIRD  FLOOR  OF  RUSSELL  HOUSE  155 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
FRONT  DOOR  OF  RUSSELL  HOUSE 156 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
STAIRCASE  IN  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  GEORGE  MOFFETT 163 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
LIBRARY  IN  MR.  MOFFETTS  HOUSE 164 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MANTEL  IN  DRAWING-ROOM  01-^  MR.  MOFFETTS  HOUSE 165 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
DINING-ROOM  IN  MR.  MOFFETTS  HOUSE 167 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
A  BEDROOM  IN  MR.  MOFFETTS  HOUSE 168 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
EDMONSTON  HOUSE— LATER  THE  CHARLES  ALSTON  RESIDENCE  180 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
WILLIAM  RAVENELS  HOUSE,   FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH    TAKEN 

BEFORE  THE  EARTHQUAKE  OF  1886 182 

WILLIAM    RAVENEL    HOUSE,    FROM    A    PHOTOGRAPH    TAKEN 

JUST  AFTER  THE  EARTHQUAKE  OF  1886 183 

HOUSE  OF  GENERAL  WILLIAM  WASHINGTON,  BUILT  BEFORE  1786  188 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
GATE  OF-  WASHINGTON  HOUSE 189 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

11 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

MANTEL  IN  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  HENRY  T.  WILLIAMS 193 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
GLOVER  HOUSE,  NOW  THE  CHARLESTON  CLUB,  BUILT  ABOUT 

1800 197 

Dr.\wing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
ENTRANCE  OF  JOHN  EDWARDS'  HOUSE.  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE 

OF  MR.  GEORGE  W.  WILLIAMS 201 

Drawi.ng  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
MEASURED    DRAWING    OF   MANTEL    IN    DRAWING-ROOM    OF 

JOHN  EDWARDS'  HOUSE 202 

By  Albert  Simons 

MANTEL  IN  JOHN  EDWARDS'  HOUSE 203 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
STAIRCASE  IN  GEORGE  EDWARDS'  HOUSE 212 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 

GATEWAY  OF  GEORGE  EDWARDS'  HOUSE,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE 

OF  MR.  J.  ADGER  SMYTH 213 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

INNER  GARDEN  G.\TE  OF  GEORGE  EDWARDS'  HOUSE 215 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
MANTEL  IN  GEORGE  EDWARDS'  HOUSE 217 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MANTEL  IN  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  GEORGE  S.  HOLMES 219 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
THE  THOMAS  FERGUSON  HOUSE,  LATER  THE  RESIDENCE  OF 

MRS.  FREDERICK  RUTLEDGE 227 

W'ater  Color  Sketch  by  Charles  Eraser 
MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  MANTEL  IN  HUMPHREY  SOMMERS" 

HOUSE,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  MRS.  F.  LE  JAU  PARKER  229 
By  Albert  Simons 

MANTEL  IN  MRS.  PARKER'S  HOUSE 231 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 

ENTRANCE  OF  COLONEL  JOHN  STUART'S  HOUSE.  BUILT  ABOUT 

1772,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  WALTER  PRINGLE.     241 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
DOOR  AND  MANTEL  IN  STUART  DRAWING-ROOM 243 

Photographs  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
MEASURED   DRAWING   OF   MANTEL    .\ND    DOORS  IN  STUART 

DRAWING-ROOM 24.5 

By  Albert  Simons 
PLAN  OF  COLONEL  JOHN  STUARTS  HOUSE 246 

By  Albert  Simons 
GARDEN  GATE  ON  ORANGE  STREET:  CAPT.  FREDERICK  W. 

WAGENER'S  RESIDENCE 248 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
PL.\N  OF  IZARD  HOUSE 250 

By  Albert  Simons 
IZARD  HOUSE,  BUILT  BEFORE  1757.  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE]  OF 

MR.  GEORGE  D.  BRYAN 251 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

12 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

MANTEL  IN  IZARD  HOUSE 253 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
CORNER   OF   DANIEL   RAVENEL    HOUSE    ON    BROAD    STREET, 

BUILT  ABOUT  1800 261 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
DRAWING-ROOM  MANTEL  IN  DANIEL  RAVENEL  HOUSE 263 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
CHARLESTOWN    IN    1780,  SHOWING    THE    EXCHANGE    BEFORE 

ALTERATION 265 

From  An  Old  Print 
HOUSE  OF  COLONEL  WILLIAM  RHETT,  BUILT  BEFORE  1720,  NOW 

THE  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  F.  W.  STENDER 274 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
DOORWAYS   AND    MANTEL    IN   DRAWING-ROOM   OF  COLONEL 

WILLIAM  RHETT'S  HOUSE 275 

Photographs  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
HOUSE  BUILT  BY  HENRY  LAURENS  IN  1763 286 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
HOUSE  OF  NATHANIEL  HEYWARD,  BUILT  ABOUT  1788  287 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
BOW     OF     NATHANIEL    HEYWARD    HOUSE,    WITH     KITCHEN 

BEYOND 289 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
STAIRCASE  IN  HOUSE  BUILT  BY  DR.  TOOMER 299 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
STAIRCASE  IN  RESIDENCE  OF  THE  MISSES  BROWN,  BUILT  1860  300 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
THE  SIEGE  OF  CHARLESTON  DURING  THE  REVOLUTION  303 

From  an  Engraving  of  Chapel's  Painting 
FRONT  STEPS  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  PARSONAGE,  BUILT  ABOUT  1770  314 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
BACK  STEPS  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  PARSONAGE.  BUILT  ABOUT  1770.     315 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
THREE  FAN-LIGHTS 318 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
MANTEL  IN  RESIDENCE  OF  DR.  THOMAS  GRANGE  SIMONS.        319 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
A  VIEW  NEAR  CHARLESTON,  1802,  SHOWING  WIND-MILL  323 

Water  Color  Sketch  by  Charles  Eraser 
HOUSE  BUILT  BY  GOVERNOR  BENNETT,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE 

OF  MRS.  E.  L.  HALSEY 325 

Photograph 
PIAZZA  OF  GOVERNOR  BENNETT'S  HOUSE 326 

Photograph 
HALL  DOOR  OF  GOVERNOR  BENNETT'S  HOUSE 327 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
DOORWAY  IN  HALL  OF  GOVERNOR  BENNETT'S  HOUSE  328 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 
STAIRCASE  OF  GOVERNOR  BENNETT'S  HOUSE 329 

Photograph  by  St.  J.  Melchers 

13 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

RESIDENCE  OF  THE  LATE  MR.  JEFFERSON  BENNETT 332 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
CARRIAGE-GATE   AND   OUTHOUSES  OF  JEFFERSON   BENNETT 

RESIDENCE 333 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
RESIDENCE  OF  MRS.  HENRY  BAKER,  ONCE  THE  RESIDENCE 

OF  CHARLES  ERASER 334 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
A  QUAINT  OLD  HOUSE  IN  ST.  MICHAELS  ALLEY 335 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
ST.  MICHAEL'S  STEEPLE  ACROSS  TILED  ROOFS 346 

Drawing  by'  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
TILED  ROOF  OF  AN  OLD  WAREHOISE  ON  EAST  BAY 347 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
BALCONY    OF    HENRY    MANIGAULTS    HOUSE    ON     MEETING 

STREET,  NOAV  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  MR.  E.  H.  BURTON 348 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  SmiTh 
BALCONIES  AND  AWNING  SUPPORTS 349 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
FIVE  BALCONIES  ON  CHURCH  STREET 350 

Drawlvg  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
BALCONIES  ON  BROAD  STREET 351 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
BALCONIES,  RAILINGS  AND  PANELS 352 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 

AWNING  AND  SIGN  SUPPORTS,  ETC 353 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
BALCONIES  ON  MEETING  AND  QUEEN  STREETS 354 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
TWO  GRILLES  ON  ELLIOTT  STREET  NEAR  CHURCH    STREET  355 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
GRILLE  ON  CHURCH  STREET 356 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
BALCONY  AND  GRILLE  ON  KING  STREET 357 

Drawing  by  Alice  R.  H.  Smith 
THE  RUINS  OF  CHARLES  PINCKNEY'S  HOUSE,  BURNT  IN  THE 

FIRE  OF  1861 373 

Fro.m  an  Old  Photograph 


CHARLESTON  AND  ITS  STORY 


THE  DWELLING  HOUSES 
OF  CHARLESTON 

CHARLESTON  AND  ITS  STORY 

GOVERNOR  SAYLE'S  settlement  in  South 
.  Carolina  was  made  in  1670  at  Albemarle 
Point,  now  called  Old  Town,  which  was  on  the 
Ashley,  opposite  to  Hampton  Park,  and  was  nearly  sur- 
rounded by  low  ground  and  marshes.  This  site  was  se- 
lected for  easier  defense  against  the  S2)aniards,  who 
claimed  the  Southern  coast  and  gaye  to  Charleston  Har- 
bor its  earlier  name  of  St.  George's  Bay.  This  first  settle- 
ment was  named  Charles  Town,  which  name  was  trans- 
ferred to  Oyster  Point  when  Old  Town  in  1680  was 
abandoned.  The  name  was  retained  until  1783,  when 
by  the  act  of  incorporation  it  was  changed  to  Charleston. 
The  town,  as  originally  laid  out,  was  on  the  bay  or 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  peninsula.  We  are  lucky 
enough  to  haye  a  "  survey,"  made  in  1704,  by  one 
Edward  Crisp,  whose  memory  lives  in  that  alone.  This 
shows  that  the  walls  of  circumvallation  extended  from 
Granville's  Bastion,  at  the  north  end  of  what  is  now  called 
the  High  Battery,  along  the  north  shore  of  Vanderhorst 
Creek,  now  Water  Street,  to  Colleton's  Bastion  at  its 
intersection  with  Meeting  Street;  thence  along  JMeet- 
ing  Street  to  Carteret's  Bastion  somewhere  about  the 
intersection  of  Cumberland  Street,  and  thence  along  the 
south  shore  of  that  Creek,  which  has  become  jNIarket 

2  17 


D.  K  HILL  LIBRARY 
North  Carolina  Stale  College 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Street,  to  Craven's  Bastion  on  the  waters  of  the  Bay. 
Between  Craven's  and  Granville's  ran  the  Curtain  Line 
along  the  Bay.  It  is  curious  to  read  in  sundry  old  deeds 
that  the  property  conveyed  lay  "  within  the  walls  of 
Charles  Town."  But  long  before  the  date  of  Crisp's 
survey  many  lots  had  been  granted  beyond  the  fortifica- 
tions, which  proves  that  streets  had  been  run  out  before 
that  date  in  the  territory  which  Crisp  leaves  almost  blank. 


V  ..  ... 

v'V '-■*'■  ' 


THE  GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  LORDS  PROPRIETORS  OF  CAROLINA 

The  Bastions  had  been  named  after  four  of  the 
"  Lords  Proprietors,"  who  held  the  province  as  a  Pa- 
latinate after  the  manner  of  the  County  Palatine  of 
Durham.  Their  rule  continued  until  the  revolution  of 
1719,  from  which  period  the  province  was  provisionally 
governed  by  the  Crown  until  1729.  The  Crown  (George 
II,  1729)  then  took  over  the  entire  control,  having 
completed  the  purchase  of  the  political  and  propri- 
etary rights  of  the  Lords,  allotting,  however,  to  Lord 
Carteret  that  part  of  North  Carolina  lying  next  to  the 
Virginia  line. 

18 


CHARLESTON  AND  ITS  STORY 

The  eight  original  Lords  Proprietors  under  the 
Patent  of  Charles  II  were : 

1.  The  Earl  of  Clarendon,  whose  daughter  was  the  wife  of 
James  II  and  mother  of  Queens  Mary  and  Anne. 

2.  The  Duke  of  Albemarle,  otherwise  Gen.  George  Monk,  of 
the  Restoration, 

3.  The  Earl  of  Craven,  who  had  been  a  stalwart  supporter 
of  the  Stuarts  during  the  Great  Rebellion. 

4.  Lord  Berkeley,  who  had  been  similarly  distinguished. 

5.  The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  who  was  the  Ashley  of  the 
famous  "  cabal." 

6.  Sir  George  Carteret,  a  naval  officer,  made  famous  by  his 
defense  of  the  Island  of  Jersey,  which  he  held  for  the  Crown. 

7.  Sir  John  Colleton,  an  active  officer  in  King  Charles'  army, 
who  took  refuge  in  Barbadoes,  and  whose  sons  were  important 
settlers  of  Carolina. 

8.  Sir  William  Berkeley,  brother  of  Lord  Berkeley,  and 
Governor  of  Virginia. 

The  fortifications  as  shown  in  Crisp's  survey,  except 
those  on  the  water  front  between  Granville's  and  Craven's 
Bastions,  were  removed  in  1717,  and  the  circumvallation 
made  to  include  a  much  larger  area.  For  by  this  time 
many  houses  had  been  erected  beyond  the  original 
"  walls."  The  lines  of  the  newer  enceinte  to  the  land- 
ward sides  have  not  been  set  down  on  any  map  or  plan 
now  known,  until  we  reach  that  of  the  siege  of  Charles 
Town  in  1780.  This  was  published  in  England  in  a 
work  called  "  Neptune,"  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  Charles- 
ton Library.  At  that  date  the  outer  line  of  defense  was 
drawn  just  north  of  Boundary  (later  Calhoun)  Street, 
from  river  to  river,  and  the  whole  water  front  on  both 

19 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

sides  lined  with  batteries.  Between  1700  and  1780  much 
of  the  low  or  marshy  ground  below  Wentworth  Street 
was  filled  up,  and  after  the  Revolution  this  process  went 
on  with  increasing  rapidity,  so  that  many  of  the  houses, 
which  appear  to  us  old,  were  in  fact  built  upon  "  made 
land." 

The  dread  of  Spanish  and  of  piratical  attack,  and 
the  numerous  Indian  wars,  kept  the  little  colony  in  a 
constant  state  of  apprehension,  and  military  service  was 
universal.  All  this  had  its  effect  upon  the  locality  and 
there  were  frequent,  yet  irregular,  discoveries  that  the 
fortifications  needed  repair  or  improvement. 

Three  times  Colonial  forces  took  part  in  expeditions 
against  Florida — two  designed  to  capture  St.  Augustine, 
and  one  against  the  Indian  towns  of  Apalachia.  There 
were  also  two  expeditions  against  the  Tuscaroras,  end- 
ing in  the  expulsion  of  that  tribe  from  North  Carolina 
in  1713.  In  the  great  Yamassee  War  in  1715  the  con- 
federated tribes  from  the  northeast  and  southwest  carried 
massacre  and  destruction  very  near  to  Charles  Town. 
The  Cherokee  wars  of  1759-1761  were  on  a  large  scale, 
but  were  fought  at  a  distance  from  the  town.  Of  in- 
vasions by  the  Spaniards  there  were  not  a  few,  but  only 
two  of  them  were  serious.  In  that  of  1686  the  colony  of 
Lord  Cardross  at  Port  Royal  was  destroyed  and  the 
country  on  the  Edisto  was  ravaged.  Later,  in  1706,  a 
combined  fleet  of  French  and  Spaniards  sailed  into  the 
harbour  of  Charles  Town  and  landed  on  James  Island 
and  also  at  the  point  now  called  Mount  Pleasant. 

The  colony  was  thus  at  war  almost  incessantly  from 

20 


4 


£-1 

c  5:1; 

c 

o 

K  S 

a  >> 


CHARLESTON  AND  ITS  STORY 

its  foundation  to  the  Revolution,  yet  its  growth  in  wealth 
and  commerce  was  rapid  through  the  whole  period,  and 
the  eiFect  of  this  prosperity  could  be  seen  in  the  build- 
ings erected  up  to  the  date  of  the  Revolution.  During 
that  long  war  there  was  a  halt  in  both  prosperity  and  in 
building,  for  destruction  then  far  exceeded  erection. 

The  rapid  and  immediate  return  of  prosperity  after 
the  war  seems  remarkable,  but  is  easily  accounted  for  by 
the  outbreak  in  Europe  of  the  French  Revolution  with 
its  devastating  wars,  producing  a  quick  development  in 
the  export  trade  of  the  new  State  with  an  advance  in  the 
value  of  its  productions.  As  a  result  there  were  built 
between  1790  and  1815  a  large  number  of  what  were  then 
imposing  houses,  many  of  which  still  remain.  The  peace 
of  1815  accelerated  this  growth,  which  continued  until 
1861,  when  the  paralysis  of  war  and  ruin  fell  upon  the 
place.  In  distinction  from  the  prompt  reaction  after 
the  Revolutionary  War,  that  following  the  Confederate 
War  has  been  slow  and  halting,  and  the  city  and  the 
surrounding  country  have,  in  the  process  of  reconstruc- 
tion, lacked  this  impulse;  in  consequence  even  to-day 
they  fall  short  of  the  position  they  held  in  1860.  The 
effect  of  this  upon  building  has  been  a  natural  one.  But 
from  the  artistic  point  of  view  it  has  not  been  altogether 
a  disadvantage.  The  other  chief  cities  on  the  Atlantic 
Coast  have  grown  and  spread,  and  the  fashionable  quar- 
ters have  been  removed  miles  away  from  the  older  parts, 
which  have  been  torn  down,  rebuilt,  and  renovated ;  but 
in  Charleston  people  still  occupy  houses  built  by  their 
predecessors  of  many  years  ago,  and  these  houses  do  not 

23 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

sink  into  insignificance  by  the  side  of  more  recent 
erections. 

Of  all  tlu-  important  colonial  towns  of  America, 
Charleston  shares  this  attraction  only  with  Quebec  and 
New  Orleans.  In  Quebec  the  older  part  of  the  town, 
built  upon  the  heights,  has  remained  little  disturbed, 
owing  to  its  undesirability  for  commercial  purposes,  and 
the  modern  town  lies  along  the  river  below.  In  New 
Orleans  the  Americans  built  an  entirely  new  town,  both 
for  business  and  residence,  alongside  of  the  old,  leaving 
the  latter  undisturbed. 

It  nmst  be  rememl)ered  that  from  the  first  settlement 
of  South  Carolina  there  was  an  influx  of  many  well-to- 
do  West  Indian  planters,  members  of  families  long 
settled  in  those  islands,  and  especially  Barbadoes.  These 
quickly  acquired  plantations  of  considerable  size,  which 
they  settled  and  cultivated  with  negroes,  many  of  whom 
they  brought  with  them  from  their  old  homes.  This  in 
a  measure  may  account  for  much  that  we  will  notice  in 
the  ways  of  building,  and  also  for  other  things  marking 
a  difference  from  the  more  northern  colonies.  This 
province  up  to  the  Revolution  was  to  be  grouped  with 
the  English  West  Indies,  with  which  they  early  estab- 
lished and  constantly  developed  a  considerable  trade  and 
intercourse,  rather  than  with  the  settlements  on  the 
.Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  northward.  For  between 
Charles  Town  and  Philadelphia  there  were  no  urban 
settlements  of  much  importance,  and  this  produced  in 
that  day  of  difficult  communications  a  certain  isolation. 
The  place  was  left  to  })e  developed  on  its  own  lines  with 

24 


CHARLESTON  AND  ITS  STORY 

influences  chiefly  drawn  from  the  "  Old  Country  "  and 
the  West  Indian  Islands. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  whether  the  immi- 
gration of  French  Protestants  between  1680  and  1695 
had  any  considerable  influence  on  the  architectural  devel- 
opment. To  this  we  are  inclined  to  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive, for  the  flrst  of  them  who  arrived  were  too  impov- 
erished and  too  few  to  alter  the  English  trend,  and  with 
increased  prosperity  they  became  rapidly  anglicized,  and 
developed,  not  as  a  foreign  element,  but  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  community. 

It  is  believed  that  Charleston  is  exceptionally  inter- 
esting because  in  its  growth,  through  all  its  vicissitudes 
up  to  1865,  there  was  a  certain  continuity.  In  a  social 
sense  this  was  well  marked,  for  from  these  beginnings 
there  followed  the  development  of  a  highly  organized 
plantation  system  which  made  it  a  veritable  metropolis, 
whither  the  planter  resorted  for  pleasure  and  for  health, 
for  business  and  for  education.  Here  he  lived  a  part  of 
each  year  in  his  "  Town  House,"  and  here  his  children 
found  opportunity  for  professional  and  mercantile 
careers.  Thus  there  was  a  constant  interchange  between 
town  and  country,  and  Charleston's  social  organization 
never  became  in  those  years  purely  urban,  nor  did  the 
life  of  the  country-side  ever  become  purely  rural.  This 
is  quaintly  shown  in  many  an  old  deed,  where  one  of  the 
parties  described  himself  as  "  of  Charles  Town,  planter." 
We  even  occasionally  find  a  woman  describing  herself  as 
of  "  Charles  Town,  Widow  and  Planter." 

Architecturally  this  continuity  is  especially  notice- 

25 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

able  because  expansion  and  growth  have  not  })rought 
about  the  destruction  of  the  old  in  the  assimilation  of 
the  new.  To  the  influences  already  mentioned  must  be 
added  that  of  climate,  and  this  cannot  escape  observa- 
tion. We  quote  from  the  "  Travels  of  the  Due  de  la 
Rochefoucault-Liancourt  "  such  a  comment: 

Some  of  the  more  opulent  inhabitants  prefer  wooden  houses, 
which  they  believe  to  be  a  good  deal  cooler  than  those  which  are 
of  brick.  Everything  peculiar  to  the  buildings  of  this  place  is 
formed  to  moderate  the  excessive  heats ;  the  windows  are  open, 
the  doors  pass  through  both  sides  of  the  houses.  Every  en- 
deavor is  used  to  refresh  the  apartments  within  with  fresh  air. 
Large  galleries  are  formed  to  shelter  the  upper  part  of  the 
house  from  the  force  of  the  sun's  rays ;  and  only  the  cooling 
northeast  wind  is  admitted  to  blow  through  the  rooms.  In 
Charlestown  persons  vie  with  one  another,  not  who  shall  have 
the  finest,  but  who  the  coolest  house. 

The  English  architectural  fashions  are,  in  a  general 
way,  easy  to  trace  through  the  modifications  made  by 
colonial  needs  and  taste.  While  the  great  mansions  of 
the  Palladian  School  were  being  erected  in  England  by 
its  followers,  such  as  Sir  William  Chambers  (1726- 
1796),  there  grew  up  in  England  a  less  pretentious 
style  employed  by  the  middle  classes  for  their  more 
modest  dwellings.  These  houses  were  often  square  in 
plan  and  laid  out  symmetrically.  The  great  skill  of 
the  English  carpenters  and  joiners  added  much  to  the 
charm  of  their  interiors  by  the  beauty  of  the  panelling 
and  wood-carving.  The  panels  were  larger  than  those 
employed  during  the  previous  century  and  were  often 
painted,  giving  a  brighter  and  more  cheerful  effect  than 

26 


CHARLESTON  AND  ITS  STORY 

the  natural  grain  and  color  of  the  wood.  Tliis  do- 
mestic style  was  often  met  with  in  the  American  Colonies 
before  the  Revolution,  and  Charleston  has  many  fine 
examples  of  it. 

After  the  Revolution  we  see  the  influence  of  Adam 
(1728-1792)  in  circular  or  elliptical  rooms,  or  rooms 
terminating  in  a  semicircular  or  segmental  arc.  We 
find  attenuated  pilasters  and  entablatures  of  very  slight 
projection  and  a  great  deal  of  applied  decoration,  very 
refined  and  small  in  scale,  but  rather  cold  in  its  elegance, 
though  this  did  not  entirely  supplant  the  more  charming 
work  of  the  wood-carver. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
"Greek  (or  Classic)  Revival"  was  felt  here  as  elsewhere, 
and  intermingled  with  the  two  fashions  that  preceded  it, 
the  whole  welded  together  by  that  dominance  of  climatic 
and  local  needs,  which  we  have  mentioned. 

Of  accounts  and  descriptions  of  Charleston  there 
have  been  many,  and  a  serious  difficulty  has  been  the 
differentiation  between  "  tradition  "  and  "  authority." 
This  has  induced  a  resort  to  the  original  sources  of  such 
history,  and  most  of  the  material  here  used  has  been 
laboriously  taken  from  the  Registry  of  ^lesne  Convey- 
ances, from  recorded  wills,  from  the  records  of  the 
Courts,  and  from  similar  authorities. 


THE  EARLIEST  BUILDINGS  AND  THE 
FREQUENT  FIRES 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  EARLIEST  BUILDINGS  AND  THE 
FREQUENT  FIRES 

OYSTER  POINT  is  at  the  confluence  of  the 
I  Cooper  and  the  Ashley  Rivers,  and,  almost 
immediately  after  the  settlement  in  1670  of 
Charles  Town  at  Albemarle  Point,  there  was  a  tendency 
among  the  inhabitants  to  remove  thither  on  account  of 
its  superior  advantages,  and  the  seat  of  government  was 
finally  transferred  there  in  1680. 

Of  the  buildings  erected  between  that  date  and  1710, 
not  one  can  be  asserted  to  exist  to-day;  but  in  the  survey 
by  Edward  Crisp  in  1704  there  were  marked  down  the 
sites  of  fifteen  as  possibly  more  notable.  In  the  same 
plan  can  be  found  the  sites  of  the  English  Church, 
the  Independent  Meeting  House,  the  Anabaptist  Meet- 
ing House,  and  the  Quaker  Meeting  House.  Not 
one  of  these  buildings  remains,  although  a  church 
of  each  of  the  denominations  named  stands  to-day  on 
each  site,  except  indeed  the  Quaker  meeting  house,  which 
was  not  rebuilt  after  the  great  fire  of  1861,  even  though 
the  graveyard  is  preserved  with  reverential  care. 

The  dates  of  the  many  destructive  fires  have  been 
hsted  in  the  Year  Book  of  Charleston  for  1880,  and  the 
date  and  description  of  each  fire  sets  an  impassable  limit 
to  claims  of  antiquity  made  in  behalf  of  many  houses. 

Yet  about  1710  there  must  have  existed  a  high  grade 
of  architectural  ambition,  for  in  1710-1711  the  Assembly 

31 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

ordered  the  building  of  ii  new  brick  church  for  the  Parish 
of  St.  Phihp,  and  in  1720  passed  an  act  for  repairing 
and  completing  it,  and  appropriated  for  this  pious 
purpose  duties  of  three  pence  a  gallon  on  rum  and  five 
pence  a  gallon  on  brandy  and  other  spirits,  with  si)ecial 
duties  on  im2)0ii:ation  of  negroes  and  merchandise  by 
nonresidents. 

Dr.  Dalcho,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Church  in  Caro- 
lina," gives  a  full  account  of  all  this,  and  quotes  from 
Edmund  Burke's  account  of  the  European  Settlements 
in  America  that  this  church  "  is  spacious,  and  executed 
in  a  very  handsome  taste,  exceeding  everything  of  that 
kind  which  we  have  in  America."  ^Vhitetield  was  tried 
in  1740  in  this  church — "  a  grand  Church  reseml)ling 
one  of  the  new  Churches  in  London"  ("Gillies  Me- 
moirs of  Whitefield  ") .  A  reproduction  of  the  front 
elevation  of  this  building  appeared  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  of  June,  1753. 

The  taste  which  called  for  such  a  church-l)uilding 
nmst  have  shown  itself  also  in  the  dwelling  houses 
erected  at  the  same  date,  but  the  fires  of  1740,  1778  and 
1796  left  but  little  of  the  oldest  part  of  the  town  uncon- 
sumed.  We  reproduce  from  the  Gazettes  of  1740  items 
about  the  fire  of  that  year  and  a  transcript  of  the  Act  of 
1740  regulating  the  ])rices  of  the  building  materials  and 
labor. 

Mayor  Courtenay,  in  his  year  book  for  1880,  listed 
the  principal  fires  which  have  devastated  this  town. 

In  1008  a  fire  destroyed  fifty  dwellings. 

Tn  1000  another  destructive  fire. 


^'■S 


"W  tn     tOueleMmff  l/en^anu-  n//id/?L 
(^i^  fus  Jami^/U:  daa/aJEcL  ^a.lm.: 
J  fie  Jonj  ^/  !jficuui/rw/h{  /n   Vain 

D^'J:  Warts  ^'i//^yr,ipA^ 


/Vu/{/ui  C/iarrA  i4t  (J^ia^/^/€<)c/^^ 


THE  OLD  ST    PHILIP'S,  FROM  "THE  GENTLEMAN'S  MAGAZINE"  OF  JUNE,  17:.; 
3 


EARLIEST  BUILDINGS  AND  FREQUENT  FIRES 

In  1700  most  of  the  town  burned. 

In  1731  another  destructive  fire. 

Of  these  earlier  fires  we  have  seen  no  detailed  ac- 
counts, but  of  the  great  fire  of  1740  the  newspapers  of 
the  day  tell  us  much.  This  fire  broke  out  on  Tuesday, 
November  18,  1740,  somewhere  on  Broad  Street  and 
consumed  all  the  houses  on  the  west  side  of  Church  Street 
as  far  as  Tradd  Street,  where  the  fire  was  checked  by 
blowing  up  several  houses.  But  on  the  east  side  of 
Church  Street  and  south  of  Broad  it  burned  everything 
along  Church  Street  and  the  Bay  down  to  Vanderhorst 
Creek,  consuming  part  of  the  platform  and  gun  car- 
riages at  Granville's  Bastion.  The  militia  was  turned 
out  and  landing  parties  were  sent  from  three  of  His 
Majesty's  ships  of  war,  then  tying  in  the  harbor.  But 
the  success  of  their  efforts  was  only  to  be  seen  in  check- 
ing the  spread  of  the  fire  against  the  high  northwest 
wind;  running  with  the  wind,  the  fire  burnt  itself  out. 
INIeantime  and  through  the  night,  the  Troopers  of  the 
Charles  Town  Horse-Guards  patrolled  the  town  for  its 
protection  from  looting.  This  cavalry  command  is  said 
to  exist  to-day  under  the  name  of  the  Charleston  Light 
Dragoons,  and  was  almost  annihilated  in  the  Confed- 
erate War.  The  many  advertisements  of  removals  in 
the  Gazettes  tell  a  sad  story  of  the  losses  to  mercantile 
establishments. 

In  December,  1740,  partly  to  restrain  the  greed  of 
workmen  and  of  dealers  in  building  materials,  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  passed  an  elaborate  act  regulating  the 
rebuilding  of  the  town,  and  fixing  maximum  prices  and 

35 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

rates  of  wajL^es.  As  a  contrast  to  modern  ideas  quotations 
from  this  act  will  be  of  interest,  remembering-  that  cur- 
rency then  stood  to  sterling  as  seven  to  one. 

*  *  *  "  Which  said  several  Rates  and  Prices,  for  "  the 
"  several  articles  following,  to  he  delivered  on  tlie  wharves  of 
"  Charles-Town,  shall  he  as  follows,  in  current  money,  that  is 
"  to  say, 

"For  English  Bricks  per  1000  Six  Pounds. 

"  For  New-England   Bricks   per   1000   Three  Pounds   and 

Ten  Shillings. 
"  For  Carolina  Bricks  per  1000  Five  Pounds. 
"  For  I.,inie  per  Bushel,  Two  Shillings  and  Six  Pence. 
"For  Cypress   Timber  per   100   Feet   Three   Pounds   Five 

Shillings. 
"  Far  Cj'press  Inch  and  Quarter  Boards  per  100  feet,  Two 
"         Pounds  Five  Shillings. 
"  For  Cypress   Inch  and  Half  Boards   per   100   feet  Two 

Pounds  Ten  Shillings. 
"  For  Cypress  Inch  Boards  per  100  Feet  Two  Pounds. 
"  For  Cypress  Shingles  per  1000,  Four  Pounds. 
"For   Pine   Timber   per   100   Feet,   Two   Pounds,   Fifteen 

Shillings. 
"For  Pine  Laths  per  100  Feet  Two  Pounds. 
"For  Pine  Inch   and   Quarter   Boards   per   100   Feet   One 
"         Pound  Ten  Shillings. 

"  For  Pine  Inch   Boards  per  100  Feet,  One  Pound  Seven 
"         Shillings  and  Six  Pence. 
"For  Pine  Shingles  per  1000  Three  Pounds. 
"  For  Carpenters  and  .Joyners  Master  Workmen  per  Day 
"         Two  Pounds. 

"  For    Negro    Men    Carpenters    or   Joyners    per    Day    One 
"         Pound. 

"  For  Apprentices    (white   or   hlack)    in    the   first   year   of 
"         their  time  per  day  Seven  Shillings  and  Six  Pence.     In 

.so 


EARLIEST  BUILDINGS  AND  FREQUENT  FIRES 

"         the  second,  per  Day,  Ten  Shillings.     In  the  third,  per 

"         Day,  Fifteen  Shillings.      In  the  fourth,  per  day.  One 

'-         Pound. 

"  For  Bricklayers   and  Plaisterers   Master  Workmen,  per 

"        day.  Two  Pounds. 

"  For  Negro  Men  per  da}-,  One  Pound  Five  Shilhngs. 

"For  Apprentices  (white  or  black)  the  same  Prices  as  are 

"         limited  for  Carpenters  or  Joyners  Apprentices. 

"         Negro  Men  Labourers  per  day.  Seven  Shillings  and  Six 

"         Pence.     If  Bricks  are  laid  by  the  1000,  then  per  1000 

"        Two  Pounds. 

"  For  Lathing  and  Plaistering  per  Square  Yard,  Two  Shil- 
"  lings    and    Six    Pence. 

"  For   Plaistering  Laths   Five   Feet    long,   per   1000,   Two 
Pounds. 


"  In  the  Council  Chamber 
"  December  20,  1740. 
"  Assented  to. 


William  Bull  jun. 

Speaker 


William  Bull." 


This  Act  was  to  be  in  force  ten  years.  These  were 
the  maximum  rates.  Any  workman  refusing  to  work 
for  wages  so  limited,  or  departing  from  said  work  with- 
out hcense  of  employer,  or  any  person  overcharging  these 
prices  was  to  be  committed  to  the  conmion  "  Goal  "  (mc) 
for  one  month  or  pay  a  fine  not  exceeding  eighty  pounds. 

All  buildings  were  to  be  of  brick  or  stone,  etc. 

The  above  extracts  have  been  carefully  copied  from 
the  South  Carolina  Gazette  of  the  date. 

37 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Again  in  January,  1778,  in  the  midst  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  a  fire  began  on  Union*  (now  State)  Street 
and  destroyed  "all  Union  Street;  the  south  side  of 
Queen  Street  from  ^Irs.  Doyley's  house  to  the  Bay; 
the  greatest  part  of  Chalmer's  Alley;  all  the  Bay,  ex- 
cepting fifteen  houses  from  Queen  Street  to  Granville's 
Bastion;  the  north  side  of  Broad  Street,  from  ]Mrs. 
Thomas  Smith's  house  to  the  Bay;  the  south  side  of  the 
same  from  Mrs.  Sawegan's  to  Mr.  Guerard's ;  all  Gads- 
den's Alley;  Elliott  Street,  excepting  two  houses; 
Bedon's  Alley,  the  east  side  of  Church  Street,  from 
Broad  Street  to  Stoll's  Alley,  excepting  five  tenements, 
and  the  whole  of  Tradd  Street  to  the  Eastward  of 
Church  Street."  It  was  chiefly  by  the  work  of  the 
soldiers  quartered  in  the  town  that  the  houses  at  the 
south  end  of  the  Bay  were  saved.  It  is  noticeable  that 
this  fire  swept  over  much  the  same  territory  as  in  17-iO. 

Again  in  1796,  a  large  fire  broke  out  in  Lodge  Alley 
near  Union  (now  State)  Street,  and  destroyed  nearly 
everything  on  the  north  side  of  Broad  Street  and  up  to 
St.  Philip's  Church,  of  which  the  tower  caught  fire.  The 
church  was  saved  by  the  bravery  of  a  negro,  who  climbed 
to  the  top  of  the  tower  and  tore  off  the  blazing  shingles. 
But  the  French  Church  was  unfortunately  destroyed, 
and  also  the  Beef  Market  at  the  corner  of  Meeting  and 
Broad  Streets.  This  last  was  not  rebuilt,  but  was  sold 
to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  1800,  and  the  build- 
ing erected  on  it  is  now  the  City  Hall. 


*  This  street  is  supposed  to  have  been  thus  named  to  com- 

nd 
38 


memorate  the  Union  of  Eno-land  and  Scotland  in  1707 


EARLIEST  BUILDINGS  AND  FREQUENT  FIRES 

The  numerous  large  fires  between  1800  and  1861 
are  of  little  importance  to  our  present  subject,  except 
that  of  1835,  in  which  St.  Philip's  Church  was  consmned, 
being  less  fortunate  then  than  in  1796  and  1810,  when 
it  so  narrowly  escaped. 

The  appalling  fire  of  1861  defies  description.  This 
began  at  the  foot  of  Hasell  Street  on  Cooper  River,  and 
burnt  itself  out  when  it  reached  the  Ashley  at  the  foot 
of  Tradd  Street.  It  is  said  to  have  covered  an  extent  of 
five  hundred  and  forty  acres,  and  very  many  fine  houses 
were  swept  away  in  addition  to  the  numerous  churches 
and  public  buildings. 

The  imposing  house  built  by  Charles  Pinckney,  for 
a  time  Chief  Justice  of  the  Colony,  was  among  the  first 
to  go.  This  stood  on  East  Bay  just  above  the  "  Gov- 
ernor's Bridge,"  crossing  the  creek,  which  became,  when 
filled  up,  Market  Street,  and  is  fully  described  by  Har- 
riott Horry  Ravenel,  in  "  Eliza  Pinckney."  This  Mrs. 
Pinckney  was  the  wife  of  the  builder,  and  we  owe  to 
her  numerous  letters  a  charming  description  of  the  social 
life  of  the  Province  for  a  half -century  after  1740. 

Among  the  residence  parts  of  the  town,  then  de- 
stroyed, was  the  entire  west  end  of  Broad  and  Tradd 
Streets,  where  stood  St.  Andrew's  Hall  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  Cathedral.  Yet  we  can  remember  certainly 
two  houses  which  escaped.  One  was  the  house  used  by 
the  Confederate  military  authorities  as  the  quarters  of 
a  number  of  Northern  officers,  there  imprisoned  in  re- 
taliation, so  as  to  be  under  the  fire  of  the  guns  bombard- 
ing the  city  from  Morris  Island.    At  the  same  time  a 

39 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

number  of  Confederate  officers  were  held  by  the  Federals 
in  a  "  pen  "  on  Morris  Island  under  the  guns  of  Battery 
Wagner.  It  is  quite  as  good  as  a  tale  by  Kipling  or 
O.  Henry  to  hear  Capt.  Thomas  Pinckney's  account 
of  his  life  in  this  "  pen  " — not  very  luxurious  as  a  resi- 
dence, but  fortunately  only  a  temporary  one. 

The  other  house,  escaping  the  fire,  was  that  of  ]Mr. 
John  Ashe  Alston,  which  still  stands  on  Tradd  Street 
just  west  of  Rutledge  Avenue. 


BREWTON'S  CORNER  AND  THE  OLD 
HOUSES  THERE 


CHAPTER  II 

BREWTOX'S  CORNER  AND  THE  OLD 
HOUSES  THERE 

THE  fire  of  1740  was  checked  on  the  west  side 
of  Church  Street  at  the  house  of  Col.  ^Nliles 
Brewton  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Tradd. 
This  house  was  saved,  but  unhappily  no  longer  exists. 
Just  below  it,  however,  stands  a  brick  house  lengthways 
on  the  street,  which  was,  until  about  fifty  years  ago,  of 
three  stories.  The  upper  story  was  taken  off  by  a  recent 
owner,  who  now  uses  the  lowest  one  as  a  storehouse. 

Colonel  Brewton,  in  1733,  conveyed  this  for  love  and 
affection  to  his  "  daughter  Dale,"  the  wife  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Dale,  an  Assistant  Justice  in  1736.  The  house  next 
south  is  separated  from  it  by  a  three-foot  passageway  or 
alley,  to  be  kept  forever  oj^en  for  the  use  of  both  houses. 
In  the  deed  of  gift  to  ^Irs.  Dale,  Col.  ^Nliles  Brewton 
speaks  of  the  next  house  as  the  one  wherein  his  son 
Robert  Brewton  then  lived.  This  Col.  Robert  Brewton 
it  was  who  succeeded  his  father  as  Powder  Receiver  in 
17'4o ;  and  it  can  hardly  be  questioned  that  his  house,  with 
its  red-tiled  roof  and  iron  balcony,  stands  to-day  but 
little  altered.  This  house  is  the  earliest  example  stand- 
ing in  Charleston  of  what  used  to  be  called  there  the 
"  single  house,"  where  such  "  houses  stand  sidewaies  back- 
ward into  their  yards,  and  onely  endwaies  with  their 
gables  towards  the  street"  (T.  Fuller,  "Worthies, 
Exeter"). 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

It  is  entered  from  the  street  through  a  narrow  piazza 
or  veranda,  which  goes  as  far  as  the  middle  of  the  house, 
where  there  opens  upon  it  the  large  door  of  the  hall  with 
the  staircase  at  the  back,  and  a  large  room  on  either 
side.     Each  floor  resembles  that  below  it  except  that 


•"^'1"-^3!p^^j 


COLONEL  ROBERT  BREWTON'S  HOUSE,  BUILT  BEFORE  1733 

the  ceilings  of  the  third  floor  are  lower.  The  walls  of 
the  house  are  very  thick,  and  the  heavy  cornice  under 
the  eaves  is  prettily  fashioned  of  shaped  bricks,  and 
the  corners  of  the  building  are  finished  with  quoins. 
This  style  of  house  has  continued  a  favorite  until  this 

44 


BREWTON'S  CORNER  AND  THE  OLD  HOUSES  THERE 

day,  with  many  modifications  to  suit  individual  tastes, 
but  remaining  always  substantially  the  same.  We  will 
notice  varieties  of  this  j^lan  of  building  as  they  show 
themselves  through  the  next  two  centuries. 


~      1    ,  -  -if^^^'sies^??^ 

LOOKING  PAST  THE  CORNER  OF  ROBERT  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 

In  local  history  the  names  of  Col.  Miles  Brewton 
and  of  his  son,  Colonel  Robert,  constantly  appear  as 
important  events  are  recorded.  When  Colonel  Brough- 
ton,  in  1710,  disputed  with  Col.  Robert  Gibbes  the  suc- 

45 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

cession  to  the  governorship,  made  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Governor  Tynte,  he  marched  his  armed  adherents  to 
the  gate  of  the  town,  where  he  found  the  drawbridge, 
near  the  present  Court  House,  raised  by  the  supporters 
of  Gibbes.  With  the  help  of  friends  within  the  walls 
he  forced  an  entrance,  and  marched  past  the  militia 
drawn  up  at  the  Watch  House,  where  the  old  post-office 
stands.  McCrady,  in  his  History,  gives  a  picturesque 
account  of  the  struggle  for  the  flag,  which  then  took 
place,  in  which  "  Captain "  Miles  Brewton's  drawn 
sword  figures  with  effect. 

In  the  troublous  times  of  the  great  Yamassee  War 
of  1715  he  bore  his  part,  and  in  1717  was  promoted  to 
the  post  of  Powder  Receiver.  In  1718  we  find  him  the 
foreman  of  the  Grand  Jury  which  indicted  the  many 
pirates  captured  by  Governor  Johnson  and  Vice  Ad- 
miral Rhett.  The  story  of  these  latter  events  has  been 
often  told,  but  by  none  more  graphically  than  by  Mr.  S. 
C.  Hughson  in  his  "  Carohna  Pirates."  It  is  hard  to 
resist  the  temptation  to  follow  the  thread  of  this  stirring 
narrative,  but  cold  sense  tells  us  that  these  events  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  architecture  of  their  houses,  how- 
ever much  they  pressed  upon  the  lives  of  the  people, 
who  built  and  lived  in  them. 

Col.  Robert  Brewton's  house  was  sold  by  him  in 
1745  to  Jordan  Roche,  who  married  his  sister,  Rebecca 
Brewton.  She  married  a  second  time  one  Guthrie,  and 
owned  it  at  her  death,  intestate,  before  June,  1767,  for 
at  that  date  her  nephew  and  heir-at-law  sold  it.  The 
various  conveyances  of  this  and  the  adjoining  lots  have 

46 


BREWTON'S  CORNER  AND  THE  OLD  HOUSES  THERE 

been  very  carefully  examined,  and  the  fact  seems  estab- 
lished that  the  present  building  is  the  same  that  stood 
there  before  1733.  The  house  has  long  been  owned  by 
Mrs.  Arthur  ^I.  Huger.  The  other  holdings  of  the 
Brewtons  at  Brewton's  Corner  passed  to  the  Miles 
Brewton  who  built  the  Brewton-Alston-Pringle  house 
on  King  Street.  They  are  listed  in  his  will,  and  were  sold 
by  his  legatees. 

Standing  next  to  Robert  Brewton's  house  is  a  large 
brick  house  which  has  been  so  fully  described  in  various 
conveyances  that  no  doubt  of  its  identity  can  exist.  One 
description  is  as  follows : 

"  To  the  corner  of  the  large  brick  house  thereon  erected  and 
"  built  and  now  and  for  many  years  past  possessed  by  Jacob 
"  Motte  esq."  And  again  in  1762 :  "  So  as  to  join  the  corner  of 
"  the  brick  house  aforesaid  and  the  north  wall  of  the  same  and 
"  the  kitchen  thereof  in  the  possession  of  the  said  Jacob  Motte 
"  Esq." 

He  does  not  seem  to  have  owned  the  house,  for  the 
fee  simple  in  1752  was  in  Jordan  Roche,  before  men- 
tioned, who  owned  the  adjoining  Brewton  house  where 
he  appears  to  have  resided. 

In  1745  the  site  of  this  "  great  brick  house  "  was 
owned  by  Richard  Capers,  of  a  well-known  South  Caro- 
lina family,  a  planter  of  Christ  Church  Parish,  who 
probably  built  the  house.  He  had  inherited  the  lot  from 
his  father,  Captain  William  Capers,  who  owned  it  in 
1715,  and  is  thought  to  have  died  about  1718. 

Jacob  Motte  was  for  twenty-seven  years  the  Public 
Treasurer  of  the  colony.     His  son,  Jacob  Motte  the 

47 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

younger,  married  Rebecca  Brewton,  the  heroine  of  Fort 
Motte,  the  stor}^  of  which  may  be  found  in  any  history 
of  the  Revolution.  The  old  treasurer  died  in  1770,  and 
was  buried  in  St.  Philip's  Church-yard,  a  little  distance 
up  the  street.  His  obituary  notice  in  the  Gazette,  in 
listing  his  virtues,  says  that  "  His  corps  was  attended 
to  the  grave  by  a  very  considerable  number  of  the  in- 
habitants who  were  indeed  real  mourners,"  but  does  not 
name  the  large  group  of  his  descendants  who  were 
present.  Of  his  nineteen  children,  whose  names  we  have, 
ten  were  grown  up  and  nine  married.  ]Mr.  Salley,  Secre- 
tary of  the  South  Carolina  Historical  Commission,  has 
collected  from  the  Gazette  many  of  the  marriage  notices 
which  to-day  read  quaintly.  "  Last  Thursday  night 
Capt.  Thomas  Shubrick  (a  wealthy  and  eminent  mer- 
chant of  this  town)  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  JNIotte,  a 
beautiful  and  accomplished  young  lady,  with  a  handsome 
fortune." 

"  On  Thursday  last  Thomas  Lynch  Esq.,  was  married 
to  JNIiss  Hannah  INIotte,  fourth  daughter  of  our  public 
treasurer,  a  young  lady  of  merit  and  beauty." 

Mr.  Motte's  sons  and  sons-in-law  made  a  remarkable 
group  of  men,  coming  to  the  front  in  the  approaching 
Revolution.  Of  Jacob  ^lotte,  Jr.,  we  have  already 
spoken.  He  succeeded  his  father-in-law.  Col.  Robert 
Brewton,  as  Powder  Receiver  of  the  Province.  Isaac,  in 
1756,  was  commissioned  an  officer  of  the  Royal  Amer- 
ican, or  the  60th  Regiment,  in  which  he  served  for  a 
number  of  years.  In  1775  he  was  made  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  Moultrie's  regiment  of  Continentals  and  be- 

48 


BREWTOX'S  CORNER  AND  THE  OLD  HOUSES  THERE 

came  the  Colonel  when  JNIoultrie  was  promoted.  In  1779 
he  was  made  a  Privy  Councillor,  leaving  his  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  Francis  Clarion,  in  command.  In  1780  he  was 
sent  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  long  continued  in 
the  service  of  the  public. 

His  brother  Charles  was  killed  at  the  siege  of  Savan- 
nah in  1779,  then  a  major  in  the  same  regiment. 

The  two  husbands  of  Hannah  JVIotte,  "  the  youno- 
lady  of  merit  and  beauty,"  were,  first,  Thomas  Lynch 
the  elder,  who  died  a  member  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, and,  second,  the  famous  Gen.  William  jNIoultrie. 

Mary  ^lotte  married  William  Drayton,  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  East  Florida,  when  a  British  possession,  and  her 
tenth  child  was  Col.  William  Drayton,  whose  public 
career  in  South  Carolina  closed  in  1833,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Philadelphia  in  resentment  at  the  success  of 
the  Xullification  ^Movement. 

The  names  of  the  other  sons-in-law  of  Jacob  ^Nlotte, 
viz.:  Thomas  Shubrick,  Dr.  James  Irving,  Henry 
Peronneau,  John  Sandford  Dart,  John  Huger,  are  they 
not  also  written  in  the  books  of  the  chronicles  of  South 
Carolina? 

In  1778  the  house  was  owned  by  James  Parsons,  an 
eminent  lawyer  and  large  planter.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Provincial  Congress  and  of  the  Secret  Committee 
of  1775,  and  in  1778  declined,  on  account  of  his  health, 
the  office  of  Vice-president  of  the  new  State  of  South 
Carolina.  Dying  in  1779,  he  left  the  house  to  his  widow 
for  life. 

4  49 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

The  house  is  of  the  type  called  in  Charleston  a  double 
house,  but  the  arrangement  has  been  somewhat  altered. 
In  such  a  house  the  hall  runs  from  the  street  door 
through  the  building  with  the  staircase  at  the  back  of  it. 
There  are  two  rooms  on  either  side  of  this  hall,  and  the 
huge  chimneys  stand  between  the  rooms.  A  recent  owner 
has  thrown  the  front  half  of  the  hall  into  one  of  the 
rooms,  and  a  street  door  has  been  cut  into  the  north 
front  room,  from  which  the  staircase  hall  is  reached 
by  a  passage  made  by  knocking  away  one  of  the  deep 
closets  by  the  chimney.  The  staircase  runs  up  to  the 
high  attic  rooms  in  easy  flights,  and  the  whole  is  equally 
well  finished,  with  large  arched  windows  on  the  land- 
ing places.  The  drawing-room  is  on  the  second  floor 
and  takes  up  the  whole  width  of  the  house,  having  in  it 
nine  windows.  The  third  floor  differs  somewhat  from 
most  of  the  houses  of  its  date,  in  that  the  ceilings  are 
of  the  same  height  as  those  of  the  lower  stories.  The 
floors  of  the  lowest  story  are  about  three  feet  from  the 
ground  with  a  deep  cellar  beneath  them.  The  mantel- 
pieces throughout  the  house  are  high,  those  in  the  prin- 
cipal rooms  ornamented  with  garlands,  trees,  and  groups 
of  figures,  one  of  them  showing  the  procession  of  Bac- 
chus and  Ariadne.  In  all  the  more  important  residences 
of  this  period  the  outbuildings  are  substantially  built  of 
brick,  and  the  house  under  consideration  is  no  exception. 
The  kitchen  is  detached  from  the  house  with  two  large 
rooms  below  and  four  rooms  above.  Its  windows,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  other  outhouses  and  of  the  carriage 

50 


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^ 


^ 


BREWTON'S  CORNER  AND  THE  OLD  HOUSES  THERE 

house  at  the  back  of  the  lot,  have  the  pointed  arch,  which 
seems  to  have  been  not  unusual  at  that  time. 

Several  shells  fell  upon  the  house  during  the  bom- 
bardment of  the  Confederate  War,  and  some  of  the 


tl^-^;^'^'i/ 


KITCHEN  OF  JACOB  MOTTE'S  HOUSE 

rooms  were  badly  shattered.  The  repairs  were  carefully 
made,  so  as  not  to  alter  the  general  effect,  by  the  present 
owner,  ]Mrs.  William  Mason  Smith,  who  bought  it  in  its 
ruinous  condition  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war. 

53 


VAXDERHORST  CREEK,  WHITE  POINT, 
AND  "  CHURCH  STREET  CONTINUED  " 


CHAPTER  III 

VANDERHORST  CREEK,  WHITE  POINT, 
AND  "  CHURCH  STREET  CONTINUED  " 

THE  outlook  to  the  south  of  the  last-mentioned 
house  is  over  the  wide  ancient  burial  ground  of 
the  "  Antiptedobaptist "  congregation,  the  gift 
of  William  Elliott,  in  1699.  The  old  church  was  replaced 
by  a  new  building,  which  was  opened  for  worship  in 
1822.  The  long  iron  fence  of  the  yard,  and  the  portico 
with  its  heavy  Doric  columns,  add  dignity  to  the  simple 
character  of  the  street.  Between  this  and  Water  Street, 
before  the  Revolution,  there  lived  many  Anabaptists, 
and  as  a  result  of  a  religious  quarrel  another  meeting- 
house, afterwards  called  the  jNIariners'  Church,  was 
erected  a  little  farther  down  the  street  near  the  creek. 
It  has  been  often  told  how  the  corner  of  this  church  was 
carried  away  in  the  great  gale  of  1752  by  a  vessel  driven 
up  Vanderhorst  Creek  across  Meeting  Street,  where  it 
grounded.  The  jNIariners'  Church  has  quite  recently 
been  pulled  down. 

At  Water  Street  we  come  to  the  line  of  the  old  for- 
tifications of  the  town,  long  since  removed.  The  position 
of  these  can  fortunately  be  traced  with  the  help  of 
Crisp's  survey,  a  reproduction  of  which  may  be  found 
in  the  Charleston  Year  Book  of  1880.  (Note:  This 
was  not  made  from  the  original,  but  from  a  copy,  and 
there  are  several  errors  in  the  "  References  "  printed 

57 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

below  it.)  At  this  point  they  followed  the  line  of  the 
creek  with  Granville's  Bastion  to  the  left  on  the  Bay, 
and  Colleton's  Bastion  to  the  right,  where  the  line 
reached  Meeting  Street,  beyond  which  the  Creek  headed. 
Granville's  Bastion  was  the  most  important  point  in  the 
enceinte,  lying  upon  the  water  just  where  ends  the  sea- 
wall, called  to-day  the  "  High  Battery."  Vanderhorst 
Creek,  as  it  was  called,  has  been  long  since  filled  up,  but 
along  its  bed  runs  Water  Street,  the  origin  of  the  name 
being  obvious.  Just  across  the  Creek  was  the  White 
Point,  now  covered  with  houses,  and  its  name  only  pre- 
served in  the  official  designation  of  the  Battery,  viz.: 
White  Point  Garden. 

Bordering  on  the  Creek  to  the  south  were  Lots  297 
and  298  of  the  Grand  Model,  granted  on  Sej^tember 
12,  1692,  to  Susannah  Varin,  "  nee  a  Neu  Chatell 
en  Suize,  Veuve  de  Jacques  Varin,  fille  de  Samuel  Horry 
et  Jeanne  Dubois."  (See  the  Ravenel  "  Liste.")  She, 
in  1695,  sold  these  to  Maj.  John  Vanderhorst,  whose 
only  son  John  possessed  the  greater  part,  and  in  1738, 
by  will,  ordered  same  to  be  divided  among  his  five  sons. 
Before  that  date  the  White  Point  stretched  from  Vander- 
horst Creek  to  the  Ashley,  unimproved  and  with  few 
buildings  on  it.  But  about  where  the  Jasper  monument 
now  stands  there  was  an  important  fortification  called 
Broughton's  Battery.  This  point  from  time  to  time 
has  frowned  fiercely  at  invading  foes.  When  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  in  1780,  lay  on  James  Island  and  Admiral 
Arbuthnot's  powerful  fleet  lay  ofl*  Fort  Johnson,  Dor- 
rell's  Fort  of  seven  guns  was  near  the  corner  of  the 

58 


S  I 

SO  -■ 

in  '• 
> 


\.    I 


VANDERHORST  CREEK,  WHITE  POINT,  ETC. 

Battery  of  to-day,  while  Wilkins'  Fort  with  sixteen 
guns  occupied  the  extreme  point,  and  Gibbs'  Fort  with 
nine  guns  was  at  the  foot  of  King  Street ;  and  it  is  pos- 
sible that  from  these  forts  reply  was  made  to  the  vicious 
ball  from  James  Island,  that  carried  away  the  arm  of 
the  Earl  of  Chatham's  statue  and  shattered  JNIagna 
Charta,  which  was  held  in  his  right  hand.  This  mutilated 
statue  stands  now  in  the  square  of  the  City  Hall. 

When  the  French  "  State  of  War  "  existed  Fort 
Mechanic  was  built,  where  to-day  are  the  Charles  Alston 
house  and  the  Holmes  lot  on  East  Battery.  An  old 
sketch  by  Charles  Eraser,  made  July  4,  1796,  gives 
an  interesting  view  of  it,  as  it  appeared  to  a  lad  of  four- 
teen, which  was  his  age  at  the  time. 

At  a  later  date,  in  1864,  the  whole  of  White  Point 
Garden  was  filled  by  two  large  earthworks  with  heavy 
guns,  called  Battery  Ramsaj^  so  named  after  Major 
David  Ramsay,  who  fell  on  July  18,  1863,  when 
Putnam's  brigade  swept  gallantly  over  the  parapet  of 
Battery  Wagner  and  held  for  a  bloody  hour  the  captured 
salient. 

But  our  interest  in  this  locality  has  carried  us  far 
ahead  of  1738-1740,  at  which  time  the  Vanderhorst  hold- 
ing was  divided,  thus  allowing  the  building  of  an  in- 
teresting group  of  houses  which  still  stand  in  a  bend  of 
"  Church  Street  continued,"  described  as  "  a  new  street 
that  leadeth  from  Broughton's  Bastion  northward  to  the 
great  broad  bridge  over  said  marsh  and  creek." 

In  the  partition,  the  first  lots  on  the  west  side  of  the 
new  street,  were  made  to  extend  from  "  Church  Street 

63 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

continued  "  to  the  "  great  street  from  Ashley  River  to  the 
old  Churchyard,  market  place  and  Meeting  House." 
This  is  easily  recognized  as  Meeting  or  Meeting-house 
Street,  passing  by  the  then  abandoned  yard  of  the 
earliest  St.  Philip's,  on  which  site  the  present  St. 
Michael's  was  built  later.  The  market  was  later  de- 
stroyed in  the  great  fire  of  1796  and  the  City  Hall  stands 
in  its  place,  while  the  Meeting  House  was,  of  course,  the 
forerunner  of  the  present  "  Circular  "  Church. 

One  of  these  lots  passed  to  John  Vanderhorst,  Jr., 
who  died  in  1740  and  devised  it  to  his  wife.  She  followed 
him  within  a  few  months,  and  her  brother  and  heir-at- 
law,  John  Hodsden,  conveyed  it  to  George  Eveleigh 
in  1743.  This  lot  to-day  (1916)  has  an  old  house  on 
each  end  of  it. 

On  Church  Street  stands  the  one  belonging  to  Mrs. 
R.  Maynard  Marshall;  on  Meeting  Street  that  of 
William  Elliott  Huger,  Each  has  a  history,  and  the 
date  of  neither  has  been  fixed  with  absolute  positiveness. 

George  Eveleigh,  the  new  owner,  on  January  12, 
1753,  ordered  the  sale  of  "  the  dwelling  house  on  White 
Point  late  in  my  own  occupation  "  together  with  the 
small  spot  of  land  fronting  the  same.  As  this  small 
spot  is  a  part  of  the  little  open  triangle  between  the 
Marshall  house  and  the  street,  it  would  appear  that  he 
resided  there,  and  had  built  that  house  between  1743 
and  1753. 

In  1759  George  Eveleigh,  by  his  attorneys,  conveyed 
to  John  Bull  this  lot,  bounded  west  by  Meeting  Street, 
and  east  partly  by   land   "  heretofore "   of   Arnoldus 

64 


VANDERHORST  CREEK,  WHITE  POINT,  ETC. 

Vanderhorst,  and  partly  by  Church  Street  "  con- 
tinued ";  north  by  land  "  heretofore  "  of  Arnoldus  Van- 
derhorst, and  south  by  land  now  of  George  Matthews. 
The  entire  lot  continued  undivided  until,  in  1795,  the 
halves  were  sold  separately  by  the  executors  of  Mrs. 


Plan  o^fj^e-or 


n^c 


C<L/^1H<L^Jl  Dfifvi, 


PLAN  OF  EVELEIGH  HOUSE 

Elizabeth  Blake,  the  widow  of  Hon.  Daniel  Blake,  of 
Newington,  who  was  of  His  Majesty's  Council  under 
the  administrations  of  Governors  Thomas  Boone, 
Wilham  Bull,  Lord  Charles  Greville  Montagu,  and 
Lord  William  Campbell.  Mrs.  Blake  was  the  daughter 
and  co-heiress  of  Joseph  Izard  by  his  marriage  to  Anne 
Bull,  the  daughter  of  Capt.  John  Bull,  of  Bull's  or 
Coosaw  Island.  Gazette  of  June  2,  1733:  At  the 
latter's  country  house  there.  General  Oglethorpe  lay  on 

67 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

May  15,  1733,  on  his  way  back  to  the  just  settled 
Savannah,  after  dining  in  Charles  Town  with  the  Assem- 
bly, and  himself  giving  "  a  ball  and  a  cold  supper  to  the 
ladies  at  the  Council  Chamber."  (McCrady,  1719-1776, 
p.  166.) 

By  examining  the  titles  of  adjoining  lots  it  is  known 
that  in  1763  this  lot  belonged  to  Capt.  John  Bull,  and 
after  his  death,  in  1767,  to  his  widow,  Mrs.  Mary  Bull, 
who  died  in  1771,  after  which  it  was  owned  by  her  grand- 
daughter, Mrs.  Blake. 

The  Church  Street  house  was  sold  in  1795  to  Dr. 
John  Lewis  Polony,  a  refugee  from  St.  Domingo.  The 
Due  de  la  Rochefoucault-Liancourt  speaks  of  him  in 
highest  terms :  "Among  the  emigrants  from  St.  Domingo 
Dr.  Polony  holds  a  distinguished  rank.  He  possesses 
an  uncommon  stock  of  profound  learning  and  is  mem- 
ber of  several  literary  societies  in  Europe."  He  then 
speaks  of  Dr.  Polony's  repeated  travels  in  the  Northern 
and  Southern  States  and  of  his  extensive  information 
and  of  his  correspondence  with  scientific  men  in  Europe, 
adding  that  he  was  peculiarly  esteemed  as  naturalist 
and  chemist  by  Count  BufFon,  and  that  he  had  ready 
for  the  press  a  complete  work  on  St.  Domingo,  "  replete 
with  sound  argument." 

After  Dr.  Polony's  death  his  house  passed  in  1807 
to  Simon  Jude  Chancognie,  a  French  consular  official, 
and  thenceforward  it  has  frequently  changed  hands. 

It  was  unroofed  by  the  tornado  of  September  8, 
1811,  when  a  large  beam,  thirty  feet  long,  was  carried 
from  it  a  distance  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  and  driven 

68 


Copyright,  1915,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

THE  CURVE  OF  CHURCH  STREET 


VANDERHORST  CREEK,  WHITE  POINT,  ETC. 

through  the  roof  of  Mr.  Ruddock's  kitchen  on  King 
Street. 

The  house  that  stands  next  south  of  Dr.  Polony's 
appears  to  have  been  the  residence  of  George  Matthews, 
one  of  the  younger  sons  of  an  early  settler,  Anthony 
Matthews,  who  left  a  large  and  notable  family.  George 
Matthews  died  in  1769  and  his  house  was  sold  to  Dr. 
Philip  Skirving.  It  seems  probable  that  it  was  built  a 
few  years  later  than  the  Eveleigh,  or  Polony,  house  just 
above  it.  It  is  a  square  brick  house  of  two  stories  and 
an  attic,  with  a  bull's-eye  to  the  east,  and  a  large  dormer 
window  to  the  south.  It  has  the  light  wrought-iron 
balcony  on  the  second  story,  so  characteristic  of  the 
older  Charleston  houses. 

The  interest  of  this  group  is  carried  on  by  the  house 
next  south,  a  large  three-story  "  single  house  "  of  the 
type  before  described,  which  was  long  the  residence  of 
Dr.  Joseph  Johnson,  the  author  of  Johnson's  Traditions 
of  the  Revolution.  This  Johnson  family  from  1765  to 
this  day  has  contributed  to  the  history  of  the  State. 
William  Johnson  was  a  leader  of  the  Revolution  in  South 
Carolina,  and  his  son,  Justice  William  Johnson,  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  left  us  the  "  Life 
and  Correspondence  of  Nathaniel  Greene,"  accepted  as  a 
leading  authority  on  the  Revolution,  while  another  son 
was  Dr.  Joseph  Johnson,  just  mentioned.  A  grandson 
was  Major  John  Johnson,  a  Confederate  Engineer, 
whose  "  Defense  of  Charleston  Harbor "  deservedly 
holds  as  high  a  place  in  military  history  as  his  personal 
services.    His  later  life  as  Rector  of  St.  Philip's  Church 

73 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

was  one  of  well-remembered  service  of  another  kind. 
Another  grandson  was  Edward  McCrady,  Colonel  in 
the  Confederate  Army,  and  author  of  the  four  volumes 
of  South  Carolina  history,  indispensable  to  every  student 
of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  periods. 

Dr.  Johnson's  lot  had  been,  on  the  division  of  the 
land  of  John  Vanderhorst,  assigned  to  the  latter' s  son 
Elias,  from  whom  it  passed  to  John  Hodsden,  who  con- 
veyed same  to  Thomas  Young  in  1769.  (See  M.C.O., 
Book  N.  3,  p.  518.) 

It  then  extended  from  "  New  Church  Street  con- 
tinued "  to  "  old  Church  Street  "  on  the  west,  thus  in- 
cluding the  site  of  Col.  Isaac  Motte's  house  on  Meeting 
Street,  now  occupied  by  the  latter's  great-grandchil- 
dren, the  family  of  Dr.  Maham  Haig. 

It  is  supposed  that  both  houses  were  built  by  Young 
before  the  Revolution,  for  the  Haig  family  tradition  is 
that  Colonel  Motte  bought  his  house,  not  quite  finished, 
from  the  owner  of  the  house  on  Church  Street.  Col. 
Isaac  Motte's  career  has  been  already  noticed  when 
speaking  of  the  house  of  his  father,  Jacob  Motte,  on 
Church  Street. 


A  GROUP  OF  OLD  HOUSES  ON  MEETING 

STREET 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  GROUP  OF  OLD  HOUSES  ON  MEETING 

STREET 

THE  western  end  of  the  John  Vanderhorst- 
Eveleigh  lot  seems  to  have  been  owned,  as  pre- 
viously mentioned,  by  Mrs.  Blake  at  the  out- 
break of  the  Revolution.  She  was  a  first  cousin  of  the 
Sarah  Izard  of  the  following  notice  in  the  Gazette  of 
Saturday,  April  23,  1763: 

"  On  Sunday  last  the  Right  Hon.  Lord  William  Campbell, 
"  fourth  son  to  his  present  Grace  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  and  com- 
"  mander  of  his  majesty's  ship  the  Nightingale,  was  married  to 
"  Miss  Sarah  Izard,  daughter  of  the  late  Ralph  Izard,  Esq.,  a 
"  young  lady  esteemed  one  of  the  most  considerable  fortunes  in 
"  the  province." 

Whether  Lord  and  Lady  William  Campbell,  during 
his  troublous  administration,  rented  this  house,  or 
whether  they  occupied  it  as  the  guests  of  their  cousin, 
Mrs.  Blake,  is  not  known;  but  when  in  1775  he  aban- 
doned his  government  and  took  refuge  aboard  H.  M.  S. 
Tamar,  a  boat  bore  him  from  the  foot  of  this  garden 
down  Vanderhorst's  Creek  to  the  man-of-war  in  the 
harbor.  Lady  William  remained  behind  him  for  some 
time,  and  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Council  of  Safety 
may  be  found  an  account  of  the  seizure  of  her  chariot 
and  horses  at  the  instance  of  certain  merchants  in  re- 
prisal for  the  taking,  from  a  vessel  arriving  from  the 

77 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

West  Indies,  of  a  sum  of  money  by  the  Captain  of 
H.  M.  S.  Scorpion.  The  story  is  told  at  length  by 
McCrady  in  his  volume,  1775-1780,  where  full  justice 
is  done  to  the  lady's  indignation,  which  carried  her  so 
far  that  she  actually  declined  to  receive  her  property 
when  restored  to  her  by  the  messenger  of  the  Council. 

This  house  was  sold  in  1795  by  the  executors  of 
Mrs.  Blake  to  Col.  Lewis  Morris,  a  Revolutionary  officer 
who  belonged  to  a  well-known  New  York  family,  styling 
themselves  Morris  of  Morrisania.  He  and  Daniel  Huger 
(of  Rutledge's  Privy  Council,  1780,  and  Member  of 
Congress,  1786  to  1793)  married  the  daughters  and  co- 
heiresses of  William  Elliott  of  Accabee,  which  may  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that  Colonel  Morris  remained  in  Caro- 
lina after  the  disbandment  of  the  army,  and  has  left  many 
descendants  at  the  South  as  well  as  in  his  old  home.  Two 
of  these,  Captain  Morris  of  the  Florida,  and  John  Grim- 
ball,  executive  officer  of  the  Shenandoah,  served  in  the 
navy  of  the  Confederate  States. 

Colonel  Morris  in  1818  sold  the  house  to  his  nephew- 
in-law,  Daniel  Elliott  Huger,  whose  career  as  a  legis- 
lator and  jurist  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  State. 
Since  his  death  in  1854,  his  descendants  have  continually 
lived  there,  nearly  completing  a  century  of  ownership 
and  occupation. 

Two  curiously  similar  accidents  connected  with  this 
house  brought  about  the  serious  injury  of  one  man  and 
the  death  of  another.  Francis  Kinloch  Huger,  first 
noted  for  his  romantic  attempt  to  rescue  Lafayette  from 
Olmutz,  narrowly  escaped  death  on  the  front  steps.    As 

78 


STAIRCASE  IN  THE  HUGER  HOI 


OLD  HOUSES  ON  MEETING  STREET 

he  was  ascending  them  a  part  of  the  bull's-eye  in  the 
roof  fell  upon  him  and  fractured  his  skull.  The  tradi- 
tion says  that  his  mind  was  saved  by  his  cousin,  Mrs. 
Huger,  taking  upon  herself  the  responsibility  of  refus- 
ing to  allow  him  to  be  trepanned  (then  an  uncertain 
operation)  for  fear  of  a  permanent  injury  to  his  brain. 
He  lived  to  become  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  U.  S. 
Army,  and  to  j  oin  in  welcoming  Lafayette  to  Charleston 
in  1825,  when  the  city  presented  its  distinguished 
visitor  with  his  miniature  by  Fraser.  This  picture  is 
now  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  R.  T.  Haines  Halsey,  of 
New  York,  who  recently  bought  it  at  the  sale,  by  the 
present  Marquis,  of  the  historical  mementos  of  his  great 
predecessor. 

The  fatal  accident  on  the  Huger  steps  was  an  inci- 
dent of  the  earthquake  of  1886.  A  parapet,  which  had 
replaced  the  bull's-eye,  was  thrown  off,  and  a  portion 
of  it  fell  upon  and  crushed  an  unfortunate  young  Eng- 
lishman. He  was  visiting  at  the  house,  and  attempted 
to  run  out  of  it  while  the  shock  was  most  violent. 

Like  others  in  this  part  of  Charleston,  this  house 
suffered  from  shells  during  the  bombardment,  which 
lasted  from  August  22,  1863,  continuing  at  intervals 
until  the  evacuation  in  February,  1865. 

It  has  not  yet  been  definitely  ascertained  by  whom 
and  when  the  house  was  built;  whether  by  Capt.  John 
Bull,  ^Irs.  ]Mary  Bull  or  Mrs.  Daniel  Blake,  their  grand- 
daughter, but  it  may  be  fairly  suggested  that  it  was 
built  somewhere  about  1760,  when  the  rapidly  increasing 
wealth  of  the  colony  was  developing  an  ambition  to  imi- 

6  81 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

tate  more  closely  the  larger  houses  of  the  mother  country. 

The  building  we  are  now  considering  is  a  double 
house  above  a  high  cellar,  and  a  flight  of  stone  steps  leads 
from  the  street  to  the  front  door,  through  which  is  en- 
tered the  hall.  This  runs  through  to  the  back  door, 
where  another  flight  goes  down  into  the  yard,  which,  in 
the  old  days,  had  on  one  side  the  kitchen,  and  on  the 
other  the  carriage  house  and  stables,  both  large  brick 
buildings  with  second  stories ;  and  beyond  lay  the  garden. 

The  general  plan  differs  little  from  the  description 
already  given  of  such  houses,  but  there  is  a  marked 
advance  in  the  finish  and  detail  over  the  houses  of  a 
little  earlier  date.  The  hall  at  the  back  widens  markedly 
at  the  expense  of  the  back  rooms,  the  break  being  made 
with  pilasters  supporting  an  arch.  This  gives  space 
for  a  handsome  staircase,  with  a  broad  mahogany  rail, 
which  continues  unchanged  to  the  top  of  the  house, 
making  two  flights  to  each  story,  with  a  graceful  triple 
window  at  the  first  landing  and  a  simpler  one  above. 
The  panelled  drawing-rooms  on  the  second  floor,  which 
extend  across  the  entire  front,  have  very  handsome  orna- 
mented ceilings  somewhat  similar  to  those  of  the  Brew- 
ton- Alston-Pringle  house  and  others  of  the  same  date. 

The  broad  piazzas  to  the  south  have  been  added 
recently  by  the  present  owner.  Each  panel  of  the 
drawing-room  before  1865  was  filled  with  a  long  mirror. 
These,  with  all  the  rest  of  the  furniture,  were  shipped 
to  the  North  by  the  invaders,  when  the  city  fell  in  1865, 
and  was  thus  stripped  almost  universally.  The  home 
was  then  held  by  the  widow  of  Judge  Huger,  twenty- 

82 


OLD  HOUSES  ON  MEETING  STREET 

one  of  whose  descendants  had  been  in  the  active  service 
of  the  Confederate  States. 

This  story  of  loss  of  life  and  property  is  equally  true 
of  each  house  and  family  in  the  old  town,  and  will  not 
be  constantly  repeated  here.  Carolinians  have  for  the 
proud  motto  of  their  State  "  Animis  Opibusque  Parati," 
and  never,  in  public  need,  have  they  recked  of  "  hfe  and 
fortune." 

Immediately  opposite  to  the  Huger  house,  just  de- 
scribed, is  a  Bull  residence,  old  and  quaint.    The  quality 
of  quaintness  has  been  much  modified  by  the  re-modelling 
and  additions  of  more  recent  owners  as  concessions  to 
modern  conceptions  of  comfort.     These  have  affected 
chiefly  the  interior  and  back  of  the  house,  leaving  the 
street  front  unchanged  except  for  the  addition  of  the 
piazzas  to  the  south.    The  heavily-built  chimney  stands 
outside  of  the  northern  wall,  which  is  unusual.     The 
house  is  on  a  high  foundation,  and  two  narrow  flights 
of  stone  steps  meet  on  a  platform,  upon  which  the  street 
door  opens.     Older  people  remember  that  one  entered 
on  a  narrow  hall  with  a  narrow  room  on  either  side.    The 
one  to  the  north  was  the  smaller,  because  at  its  west  end 
space  was  taken  for  a  very  narrow  and  steep  stairway 
of  two  flights,  at  the  head  of  which  a  narrow  passage, 
with  a  tiny  room  beside  it,  ran  into  the  large  drawing- 
room  which  filled  the  width  of  the  house  from  east  to 
west.    This  has  all  been  changed.    Large  additions  have 
been  made  to  the  west  and  the  staircase  has  been  entirely 
rebuilt.    The  lots  276  and  277,  in  the  old  plat  of  Charles 
Town,  are  said  to  have  been  granted  to  Stephen  Bull, 

85 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

May  19,  1694.  His  son,  Lieut.-Gov.  William  Bull,  in 
1746  conveyed  to  John  Drayton,  Esq.,  for  a  nominal 
consideration,  the  back  part  of  lot  No.  277,  bounding 
east  on  other  part  of  said  lot,  "  now  in  possession  "  of 
Thomas  Drayton,  Esq.,  and  Doctor  Bull.  This  Dr.  Bull 
was  the  second  Lieut.-Gov.  William  Bull,  and  the  two 
Draytons,  Thomas  and  John,  married  respectively 
Elizabeth  and  Charlotte  Bull,  daughters  of  the  grantor, 
while  the  third  daughter  married  Henry  ^liddleton, 
which  last  in  1778  we  find  in  possession  of  Lot  276  to 
the  South. 

The  Bulls  of  these  three  generations  were  leading 
men  of  the  province,  each  in  his  day,  the  last  having 
been  Lieutenant-Governor  (in  Charles  Town  at  least) 
until  it  was  evacuated  by  the  British  on  December  14, 
1782.  (Their  history  has  been  fully  given  in  the  South 
Carolina  Historical  and  Genealogical  Magazine,  vol.  i, 
p.  76.) 

The  house  is  believed  to  have  been  built  by  the  first 
William  at  probably  quite  an  early  date.  It  is  notice- 
able that  this  William  Bull's  brother,  Capt.  John  Bull, 
was  the  owner  of  the  opposite  lot,  sold  in  1795  to  Colonel 
Morris  by  executors  of  his  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Blake, 
whose  sister's  husband,  Miles  Brewton,  built  the  Pringle 
house  on  King  Street ;  and  that  Lady  William  Campbell 
was  a  first  cousin  of  these  two  ladies,  the  three  of  them 
having  been  born  Izards. 

Two  other  granddaughters  of  Capt.  John  Bull,  born 
Middleton,  were  the  wives  of  Benjamin  Guerard,  Gov- 
ernor of  South  Carolina,  when  the  Revolutionary  War 

86 


OLD  HOUSES  ON  MEETING  STREET 

was  ending,  and  of  Major  Pierce  Butler  (late  of  H.  B. 
M.,  29th  Regiment),  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  new 
State,  from  whom  descends  Owen  Wister,  the  well- 
known  author  of  "  Lady  Baltimore,"  in  the  pages  of 
which  flit  many  types  of  a  rapidly  changing  Charleston. 

An  active  imagination  will  at  once  be  attracted  by  the 
queer  melange  of  conflicting  family  and  political  inter- 
ests that  gathered  'round  these  old  houses. 

Bull,  a  Royal  Lieutenant-Governor,  owning  premises 
on  one  side;  in  the  opposite  house  at  different  times, 
Campbell,  the  last  Royal  Governor,  and  a  member  of  his 
council,  Mr.  Blake,  while  a  square  away  was  Miles 
Brewton,  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  South 
Carolina.  John  Drayton,  to  whom  the  next  lot  to 
Governor  Bull's  had  been  given,  was  a  member  of  the 
King's  Council,  while  his  son,  William  Henry  Drayton, 
was  a  fiery  leader  of  the  Revolution.  To  a  family  gath- 
ering like  this,  Guerard  and  Butler  must  have  brought, 
not  peace,  but  added  discord.  This  is  only  one  of  many 
similar  pictures  of  the  period,  for  the  Revolution  was 
indeed  a  civil  war  of  the  most  violent  sort,  with  kinsman 
and  neighbor  arrayed  against  kinsman  and  neighbor  in 
rancorous  warfare.  How  much  more  happy  were  the 
conditions  in  1861-1865,  when  the  Sovereignty  of  Caro- 
lina marshalled  her  men  for  another  bloody  conflict — in 
no  respect  a  civil  war,  for  they  were  all  of  one  way  of 
thinking. 

Lot  277  was  thus  divided  by  the  first  Lieut.-Gov. 
William  Bull  into  three  parts.  The  part  with  the  house 
on  it  passed  from  Thomas  Drayton's  estate  through  a 

87 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

certain  Charles  Goodwin  in  1783  to  Hext  McCall,  in 
which  family  it  remained  until  1834,  when  it  was  sold 
to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hayne,  born  Peronneau,  and  to  three 
of  her  daughters.  A  son  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hayne  was 
Robert  Young  Hayne,  who  in  1822  was  United  States 
Senator,  and  whose  debate  with  Webster  was  so  often 
delivered  from  school-room  platforms  sixty  years  ago. 
He  became  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  on  the  Nullifi- 
cation issue,  in  1832,  and  was  one  of  the  leading  pro- 
moters of  the  scheme  to  link  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Ohio  to  Charleston  by  an  ambitious  railroad.  Old  people 
still  living  can  remember  when  a  great  delegation  from 
Memphis  and  the  West  brought  a  hogshead  of  water 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  it  was  pumped,  with  great 
parade,  by  a  fire  engine  over  the  High  Battery  into 
Charleston  harbor,  while  in  the  evening  visitors  and 
natives  celebrated  "  this  marriage  "  by  a  ball  given  in 
its  honor. 

Alas !  Not  many  years  later  a  cruel  war  devastated 
the  country,  and  to-day  the  Memphis  and  Charleston 
Railroad  pours  its  trade  into  another  port,  leaving  to 
Charleston  only  a  memory  and  the  huge  debt  incurred 
in  its  construction. 

With  the  death  of  Miss  Susan  Hayne  in  1895  the 
house  became  the  property  of  its  present  owner,  Mr. 
Henry  H.  Ficken.  At  what  time  the  portion  of  the 
lot  to  the  South,  which  in  1746  (see  M.C.O.,  CC,  260*) 
was  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  William  Bull  (the  second 
Lieutenant-Governor  Bull),  was  added  to  the  northern 

*  Mesne  Conveyance  Office,  Book  CC,  page  260. 

88 


OLD  HOUSES  ON  MEETING  STREET 

part  does  not  appear,  but  in  1790  this  was  still  held  by 
the  trustees  of  his  wife.  The  lane  called  Ladson's  Court 
had  been  opened  partly  on  the  land  of  this  lot  and 
partly  on  that  of  No.  276,  sold  by  Henry  Middleton  in 
1778  (see  M.C.O.  E-5,  227)  to  John  Deas,  which  last 
then  held  also  the  third  or  back  part  of  Lot  No.  277. 

The  lane  had  been  opened  to  give  access  to  this  third 
portion  of  Lot  277,  which  had  been  given  in  1746  by 
the  first  Lieutenant-Governor  Bull  to  his  son-in-law, 
John  Drayton.  This  Ladson's  Court  was  recently 
opened  through  to  King  Street,  when  it  was  also 
widened  on  the  north  side  of  it. 

On  this  back  part  of  the  lot  stands  to-day  the  very 
interesting  house,  now  (1916)  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Jenkins  M.  Robertson.  The  identical  house  is  shown  on 
a  plat  which  accompanies  the  deed  to  Thomas  Rhett 
Smith  in  1813,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  when  it  was 
built,  except  that  the  appearance  suggests  a  much  earlier 
date.  The  possession  was  in  many  owners  in  the  century 
following  the  gift  to  John  Drayton  by  his  father-in-law. 

The  house  next  north  of  Mr.  Ficken's  is  to-day 
(1916)  the  residence  of  the  widow  of  Gen.  James  Conner, 
and  stands  on  the  southern  part  of  Lot  278.  The  land 
passed  from  the  executor  of  James  Simmons  between 
his  death,  in  1775,  and  the  date  of  Robert  Gibbes'  will, 
in  1782.  Both  of  these  speak  of  it  as  the  place  where 
they  lived,  but  it  has  not  so  far  appeared  which  one  built 
the  existing  house.  Yet  it  seems  probable  that  the  builder 
was  Simmons.  It  was  owned  for  about  thirty-seven 
years   by  William   Brisbane,   and  later   by   Mr.    Otis 

89 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Mills.  Both  of  these  altered  and  improved  the  house, 
but  it  was  repaired  and  remodelled  by  the  present  owner, 
to  whom  is  due  its  attractive  appearance. 

The  house  on  the  upper  part  of  Lot  278  was  early 
in  the  last  century  owned  by  St.  Michael's  Church  as  a 
parsonage,  and  was  sold  in  1826  to  Dr.  William  Read, 
who  died  in  1845,  leaving  Major  James  Lovell  as  the 
last  surviving  officer  of  the  Continental  Line  of  the 
Revolution. 


THE  HOUSES  BUILT  BY  MILES  BREWTON, 
ROBERT  PRINGLE  AND  WILLIAM      . 
BRANFORD 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  HOUSES  BUILT  BY  MILES  BREWTON, 

ROBERT  PRINGLE,  AND  WILLIAM 

BRANFORD 

THE  fine  house  built  soon  after  1765  by  Miles 
Brewton,  known  to-day  as  the  Pringle  House 
on  King  Street,  has  been  often  described,  for  it 
stands  but  little  altered.  It  is  a  square  "  double  house  " 
on  a  high  basement  and  is  reached  from  the  street  through 
a  small  courtyard  paved  with  flagstones.  A  fine  iron 
fence  with  a  double  gateway  separates  this  from  the 
street.  The  portico  is  very  handsome  in  its  detail  and 
the  two  tiers  of  stone  pillars  are  impressive.  Its  plat- 
form, paved  with  marble,  is  reached  at  each  end  by  two 
flights  of  marble  steps  with  a  broad  landing  at  the  turn 
of  each.  Upon  this  platform  opens  the  large  street 
door  with  its  carved  frame  and  fanlight.  The  wide 
flagged  hall  has  two  large  rooms  on  either  side,  and  is 
prolonged  at  the  back  so  as  to  give  additional  room  for 
the  broad  mahogany  staircase  with  a  triple-arched  win- 
dow. Like  other  houses  of  this  date  the  drawing-rooms 
on  the  second  floor  take  up  the  whole  front.  The  panel- 
ling, ceilings,  cornices,  mantel-pieces,  and  other  details 
are  noticeably  fine  examples  of  their  period. 

We  give  at  length  from  the  South  Carolina  Historical 

93 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

and  Genealogical  Magazine,  vol.  xv,  p.  144,  an  advertise- 
ment reproduced  by  the  editor,  Miss  Webber,  from  the 
South  Carolina  Gazette  and  Country  Jouimal  of 
August  22,  1769: 


MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE.    STEPS  FROM  HOUSE  TO  COURTYARD 

"  Architecture 

"  Ut  res  gesta  est  Narrabo  Ordine 

"  Ezra  Waite,  Civil  Architect,  House-builder  in  general,  and 

"  Carver,    from   London,   Has   finished   the   Architecture,   con- 

"  ducted  the  execution  thereof,  viz:  in  the  joiner  way,  all  taber- 

94 


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Copyright,  1914,  by  Alice  R.  Huger  Smith 

THE  LOWER  HALL  OF  MILES  BREWTONS  HOUSE 


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Copyright,  1914,  by  Alice  B.  Huger  Smith 

THE  UPPER  HALL  OF  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 
7 


PLAN  OF  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE  AND  GROUNDS 


BREWTON,  PRINGLE,  AND  BRANFORD  HOUSES 

"  nacle  frames,  (but  that  in  the  dining-room  excepted)  and 
"  carved  all  the  said  work  in  the  four  principal  rooms ;  and  also 
"  calculated,  adjusted,  and  draw'd  at  large  for  to  work  by,  the 
"  lonick  entablature,  and  carved  the  same  in  the  front  and  round 
"  the  eaves,  of  Miles  Brewton,  Esquire's  House  on  White  Point 
"  for  Mr.  Moncrieff.  If  on  inspection  of  the  above  mentioned 
"  work,  and  twenty-seven  years  experience,  both  in  theory  and 
"  practice,  in  noblemen  and  gentlemen's  seats,  be  sufficient  to 
"  recommend ;  he  flatters  himself  to  give  satisfaction  to  any 
"  gentleman,  either  by  plans,  sections,  elevations,  or  executions, 
"  at  his  house  in  King-Street,  next  door  to  Mr.  Wainwrights' 
"  where  architecture  is  taught  by  a  peculiar  method  never  pub- 
"  lished  in  an}'  book  extant. 

"  N.  B.  As  Miles  Brewton,  Esquire's,  dining  room  is  of  a 
"  new  construction  with  respect  to  the  finishing  of  windows  and 
"  doorways,  it  has  been  industriously  propagated  by  some  (be- 
"  lieved  to  be  Mr.  Kinsey  Burden,  a  carpenter)  that  the  said 
"  Waite  did  not  do  the  Architecture,  and  conduct  the  execution 
"  thereof.  Therefore  the  said  Waite,  begs  leave  to  do  himself 
"  justice  in  this  public  manner,  and  assure  all  gentlemen,  that 
"  he  the  said  Waite,  did  construct  every  individual  part  and 
"  drawed  the  same  at  large  for  the  joiners  to  work  by,  and  con- 
"  ducted  the  execution  thereof.  Any  man  that  can  prove  to  the 
*'  contrary,  the  said  Waite  promises  to  pay  him  One  Hundred 
"  Guineas,  as  witness  my  hand,  this  22nd  day  of  August,  1769. 

Ezra  Waite. 
"  Veritas  Odium  Pavit." 

We  have  never  heard  that  ISlv.  Waite's  proffered 
"  One  Hundred  Guineas  "  were  ever  claimed. 

The  large  outbuildings  of  brick  and  the  garden  and 
kitchen  courtyard  show  the  same  careful  finish  in  design 
and  execution. 

These  gardens  originally  extended  through  to  Legare 

99 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Street,  but  to-day  on  the  west  end  of  the  lot  on  that 
street  are  two  fine  houses,  erected  between  1857  and 
1860. 

]Mr.  Brewton  did  not  long  enjoy  his  new  home,  for 
he,  his  wife,  and  children  were  all  lost  at  sea  in  1775  on 
their  way  to  Philadelphia,  and  his  property  passed  to 
his   sisters,   Mrs.   Charles   Pinckney   and   ^Irs.   Jacob 


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--^-^'-       0 

Copyright,  1914,  by  Alice  R.  Huger  Smith 

CARRIAGE-HOUSE  OF  MILES  BREWTONS  HOUSE— SEEN  FROM  THE  KITCHEN 

COURTYARD 

(Rebecca)  Motte,  along  with  the  site  of  Col.  Miles 
Brewton's  house  and  other  buildings  at  the  corner  of 
Church  and  Tradd  Streets  already  mentioned. 

Mrs.  Rebecca  Motte  occupied  the  house  during  the 
Revolution,  when  it  became  the  headquarters  of  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  whose  profile,  faintly  scratched  on  a 
marble  mantel-piece  by  some  idle  young  officer,  is  still  to 
be  seen  there.  Mrs.  Motte's  three  daughters  were  married 
respectively  to  John  Middleton  of  Lee's  Legion,  Gen- 

100 


BREWTON,  PRINGLE,  AND  BRANFORD  HOUSES 

eral  Thomas  Pinckney,  and  Captain  William  Alston  of 
the  Waccamaw  Company  of  Clarion's  Brigade.  The 
latter  shortly  after  his  marriage  bought  the  house  from 


^^X- 


-^'C*" 


Copyright,  1914,  by  Alice  E.  Huger  !!«mith 

MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE 

The  Northwest  Arch,  looking  toward  the  Kitchen  Courtyard 

Mrs.  JNlotte  and  her  sister,  and  made  it  his  town  resi- 
dence for  nearly  half  a  century. 

President  Washington  has  given  us  in  his  diary  an 
interesting  picture  of  Colonel  Alston's  plantation  on 

101 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

the  Waccamaw,  where  he  reared  thoroughbred  horses 
on  a  large  scale.  Irving's  "  History  of  the  Turf  in 
South  Carolina  "  shows  us  that  the  spacious  stables  of 
this  house  held  those  horses,  when  brought  down  for 
the  annual  race-meeting.  A  short  quotation  may  be 
interesting:  "  I  remember  meeting  Betsy  Baker  at  the 
corner  of  Friend  and  Tradd  Streets,  on  her  return  to 


j«»» 


Copyright,  1914,  by  Alice  K.  Huger  Smith 

SERVANTS'  HOUSE  FROM  THE  GARDEN-MILES  BREWTONS  HOUSE 

Col.  Alston's  stables  in  King  Street,  after  having  beaten 
Rosetta  in  1791 — a  great  crowd  following  her." 

The  owner  of  Rosetta  was  Lieut.-Col.  William  Wash- 
ington, formerly  commanding  Baylor's  Dragoons,  whose 
gallantry  in  arms  during  the  Revolution  made  for  him  a 
name  and  fame  which  needed  no  support  from  his  kin- 
ship to  the  great  commander-in-chief.  Of  William 
Washington's  own  home  mention  will  be  made  later. 

From  Colonel  Alston  his  house  passed  to  his  daugh- 

102 


BREWTON,  PRINGLE,  AND  BRANFORD  HOUSES 

ter,  Mrs.  William  Bull  Pringle,  and  a  new  volume  of 
family  and  local  history  was  thus  opened.  For  when 
the  United  States  Army  occupied  Charleston  in  1865 
it  became  a  second  time  the  headquarters  of  a  general 
of  an  invading  army.  This  house  is  one  of  the  few  the 
owners  of  which  to  this  day  have  been  continuously  of 


'Jc«JjL     Cn^  li  1,'itHiitiiV 


'%/Ux^i 


the  family  of  the  builder.  Occupied  successively  by 
Brewtons,  Mottes,  Alstons,  and  Pringles,  those  of  the 
last  named  have  held  it  so  long  that  to  us  of  to-day  it  is 
generally  known  as  the  Pringle  house. 

The  house  built  by  Judge  Robert  Pringle  in  Tradd 
Street,  and  the  next  one  to  it  at  the  corner  of  Meeting 

(This  account  has  been  condensed  from  one  to  be  found  in 
the  "  Twenty  Drawings  of  the  Pringle  House,"  a  portfolio  pub- 
lished by  Alice  R.  Huger  Smith  in  1914.) 

103 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Street,  are  upon  portions  of  Town  Lots  Nos.  87  and  88, 
which  lots  were  the  property  of  Andrew  Allen.  His 
daughter,  Jane,  on  18th  July,  1734,  married  this  Robert 
Pringle,  and  Mr.  Allen  in  consideration  of  the  marriage 
conveyed  to  them  a  parcel  73  feet  front  on  Tradd  Street 
and  running  across  these  two  lots  195  feet  in  depth. 
Upon  the  western  portion  of  this  parcel  of  land  Robert 
Pringle  built  in  1742  a  three-story  brick  house  recently 
pulled  down,  long  used  by  his  son,  John  JuHus  Pringle, 
as  a  law  office;  and  on  the  eastern  part  he  built  in  1774 
the  large  three-story  brick  house,  now  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Arthur  Rutledge  Young. 

The  corner  parcel  of  these  two  lots  87  and  88  was 
devised  by  Andrew  Allen  in  1735  to  his  eldest  son,  John 
Allen,  who  in  1747  sold  it  to  Benjamin  Savage.  The 
latter  bequeathed  it  in  1750  to  his  niece,  Elizabeth 
Savage  who,  as  "  an  agreeable  young  lady  with  a  hand- 
some fortune  "  (see  Gazette),  married  in  1751  William 
Branford.  It  is  believed  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Branford 
built  the  house  between  the  date  of  their  marriage  and 
that  of  his  death  in  1767,  for  we  read  in  de  Saussure's 
Equity  Reports  that  soon  after  the  death  of  her  husband, 
JNIrs.  Branford  under  the  deed  of  trust  "  entered  into 
the  possession  of  her  house  "  and  had  use  of  it  until  her 
own  death  in  1801,  when  under  the  same  deed  Thomas 
Horry  claimed  the  house  in  right  of  his  wife^  Ann 
Branford.  The  piazza  over  the  street  was  added  by 
their  son,  Elias  Horry,  within  the  recollection  of  an 
old  lady  ninety-one  years  of  age,  who  remembers  going 
as  a  child  with  her  father  to  see  the  alterations  then  in 

104 


DETAIL  OF  ROOM  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE,  FIRST  FLOOR 


^OC(y{jL      CTVS  ii~i"i  ^  j* 


'^/cct 


MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  MANTEL  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE.  FIRST  FLOOR 


^C^ayli,     in^  /i''i    e    j     t 


-P^ 


MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  DOOR  IN  MILES  BREWTON'S  HOUSE,  FIRST  FLOOR 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

construction.  This  piazza  was  well  designed,  for  it  fits 
so  well  the  style  of  the  house  that  it  seems  a  part  of  the 
original  plan  and  gives  no  feeling  of  being  a  later 
addition. 

These  two  adjacent  houses,  built  nearly  together 
in  time,  are  interesting  examples  of  the  "  double-house  " 
and  of  the  "  single-house  "  of  that  date.    The  Branford 


J'c^^Jjz  in^riTt 


2iiS6re3ii> 


3j€cc^ 


or  Horry  house  is  a  three-story  brick  house,  with  the 
door  directly  on  the  street  and  reached  by  only  two  or 
three  steps.  The  plan  is  the  familiar  one  of  four  rooms 
on  the  first  floor  with  the  hall  in  the  middle  and  the 
staircase  at  the  back  of  it. 

On  the  second  floor  the  drawing-rooms  filled  the 
front  as  in  the  Brewton  house,  just  described,  on  King 

112 


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MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  ENTRANCE  HALL  OF  THE  HORRY  HOUSE 


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MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  THE  DRAWING-ROOM  IN  THE  HORRY  HOUSE 


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MANTKI.  IN  IIORRY  IIOISK 


BREWTON,  PRINGLE,  AND  BRANFORD  HOUSES 

Street,  but  a  recent  owner  has  opened  the  hall  on  this 
story  to  the  street  at  the  expense  of  the  larger  drawing- 
room. 

The  rooms  on  these  stories  are  panelled  and  the 
finish  is  careful,  very  much  like  that  in  the  Huger,  and 
less  elaborate  than  in  the  Brewton  house.  In  this  house 
there  was  formerly  a  queer  private  staircase,  little  more 
than  a  ladder,  entered  from  a  closet  on  the  upper  hall 
and  ending  in  the  northwest  room  of  the  lower  story. 
Such  a  staircase  exists  also  in  the  Joseph  Manigault 
house  in  Wraggboro,  which  will  be  described  later. 

Mr.  William  Branford,  the  probable  builder  of  the 
house,  was  a  well-to-do  planter  in  St.  Andrews,  where 
the  last  of  his  lands  have  recently,  in  1904,  been  sold  by  a 
descendant.  His  property  included  Albemarle  Point, 
the  site  of  the  first  settlement,  later  called  Old  Town. 
A  portion  of  this  plantation  had  been  granted  as  early 
as  1694  to  his  grandfather,  another  William  Branford, 
and  the  area  had  been  early  added  to  by  purchases  of 
neighboring  lands.  (See  an  interesting  and  detailed 
account  of  this  section  by  Hon.  Henry  A.  M.  Smith 
in  vol.  xvi,  p.  1,  of  the  South  Carolina  Historical  and 
Genealogical  Magazine. )  Branf  ord's  two  daughters  and 
co-heiresses  married  respectively  the  brothers  Thomas 
and  Elias  Horry,  grandsons  of  the  Huguenot  immi- 
grant, Elias  Horry.  No  fewer  than  three  men  of  this 
Horry  family  established  a  good  military  record  in  the 
Revolution.  The  names  of  Peter,  Hugh,  and  Daniel 
Horry  appear  prominently  in  the  history  of  the  time. 

To  Thomas  Horry  the  house  passed  by  his  marriage 

119 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

to  Ann  Branford,  and  from  him  it  was  inherited  by  his 
son,  Ehas,  by  whose  will  it  was  devised  to  his  wife  for 
life,  with  remainder  to  the  children  of  his  second  mar- 
riage. By  them  it  was  sold  in  1853  to  Anthony  Barbot, 
from  whose  family  by  several  mesne  conveyances  it 
passed  to  Mrs.  William  HugerDunkin,  the  present  owner. 

Mr.  Elias  Horry  was  a  planter  of  very  large  means 
and  a  peculiarly  enterprising  man.  He  succeeded  ]Mr. 
William  Aiken  as  President  of  the  South  Carolina  Canal 
and  Railroad  Company  in  1831,  which  company  was 
organized  in  jNIay,  1828,  and  jbuilt  what  was  then  the 
longest  railway  in  the  world. 

The  Pringle  house,  which  opens  on  Tradd  Street, 
fronts  the  west  and  is  entered  from  a  piazza,  from  the 
south  end  of  which  there  was  a  broad  flight  of  brown 
stone  steps  into  the  street.  Each  of  the  two  lower 
stories  has  its  piazza.  These  are  light  and  graceful,  and 
the  segmental  arches  springing  from  post  to  post,  are 
ornamentally  finished  inside  and  out. 

The  drawing-room  was  as  usual  on  the  front  of  the 
second  story,  and  its  wood-work  is  handsomer  than  in  the 
other  rooms. 

A  previous  owner  has  rather  injured  the  appearance 
of  the  house  by  removing  the  stone  steps,  and  by  throw- 
ing out  a  bay  window  to  the  front  room  on  the  lower 
story,  not  in  keeping  with  the  rest.  The  Robert  Pringle 
who  built  the  house  came  to  this  colony  from  Scotland 
about  1730,  and  was  a  leading  merchant  here.  He  was 
appointed  an  Assistant  Justice  in  1760.  He  sat  in  this 
court  in  1766  when  Chief  Justice  Shinner  ordered  an 

120 


Copyrisht,  1915,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

PIAZZA  OF  THE  ROBERT  PRIXGLE  HOUSE 


BREWTON,  PRINGLE,  AND  BRANFORD  HOUSES 

adjournment  for  lack  of  Stamp  Paper,  but  was  over- 
ruled by  the  Assistant  Justices.  The  opinion  of  the 
Court  was  delivered  by  Assistant  Justice  Rawlins 
Lowndes  and  was  signed  by  Robert  Pringle,  Rawlins 


h^     ^- 


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.'FTI 


L  i^^^^  ^^zr,:.z--^.. 


ENTRANCE  OF  HOUSE  BUILT  1774  BY  JUDGE  ROBERT  PRINGLE  ON  TRADD  STREET 

Now  the  Residence  of  Mr.  Arthur  Rutledge  Young 

Lowndes,  Benjamin  Smith,  and  Daniel  D'Oyley,  where- 
upon they  proceeded  to  punish  the  Clerk  of  the  Court 
for  his  contempt  and  contumacy.  Then  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice in  high  dudgeon  left  the  Bench,  and  the  Court,  now 

123 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

presided  over  by  Justice  Pringle,  proceeded  with  the 
business. 

As  Justice  Lowndes  had  laid  great  stress  upon  the 
fact  that  there  was  no  Stamp  Paper  available,  it  ^vill 
interest  and  perhaps  amuse  to  give  the  reason  for  this. 
It  was  not  available  because  the  riotous  condition  of 
the  town  had  impelled  the  authorities  to  deposit  the 
stamps  in  Fort  Johnson  across  the  Bay,  whence  later 
they  were  shipped  back  to  England.  The  South  Caro- 
lina chapter  of  the  American  resistance  to  the  Stamp  Act 
is  well  worth  reading  in  detail.  ( See  O'Xeal's  "  Bench 
and  Bar,"  vol.  i,  pp.  399-427;  also  McCrady's  "  Royal 
Government,"  Chapter  XXVIII.) 

Judge  Pringle  died  in  1776,  and  the  house  passed  to 
his  son,  Jolm  Julius  Pringle.  This  eminent  la^\yer 
completed  his  classical  education  at  the  College  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  studied  his  profession  at  the  Temple  in 
London.  During  some  years  of  the  Revolution  he  was 
Secretary  to  Ralph  Izard,  one  of  the  Commissioners  to 
European  powers  appointed  by  Congress.  Appointed 
by  Washington,  he  was  for  a  time  District  Attorney  for 
South  Carolina,  and  became  Attorney  General  of  South 
Carolina  in  1792,  which  post  lie  held  for  sixteen  years. 

A  descendant  still  owns  the  autograph  friendly  let- 
ter of  Jefferson,  written  in  1805,  urging  his  acceptance 
of  the  office  of  Attorney  General  of  the  L^nited  States, 
which  he  declined.  He  died  in  184-3,  when  nearly  ninety 
years  of  age.  His  house  on  Tradd  Street  remained  in 
the  possession  of  his  descendants  until,  in  1886,  it  was 
sold  by  William  Alston  Pringle,  Recorder  of  Charleston, 

124 


MANTEL  IN  THE  ROBERT  PRINGLE  HOUSE,  FIRST  FLOOR 


BREWTON,  PRINGLE,  AND  BRANFORD  HOUSES 

his  grandson,  to  Mrs.  Stewart,  by  whom  it  was  conveyed 
to  the  present  owner  in  1909. 

Just  west  of  Mr.  Robert  Pringle's  house  stands  that 
belonging  to  Mrs.  Edward  Willis  to-day  (1916) .  This 
is  on  the  western  part  of  the  same  lots,  Nos.  57  and  58, 
and,  at  the  time  of  Andrew  Allen's  marriage  gift  to 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Pringle,  and  her  husband,  was  vested 
in  James  Matthewes  (1734) ,  and  remained  his  property 
until  1762,  when  it  was  sold  by  his  executors,  and  in 
1765  sold  again  to  Alexander  Fotheringham  and  Archi- 
bald McNeill,  both  described  as  Doctors  of  Physic  and 
tenants  in  common.  The  following  year  these  executed 
a  deed  of  partition  of  the  lot  with  the  "  two  brick  tene- 
ments "  thereon,  Fotheringham  taking  the  eastern 
moiety  and  McNeill  the  western,  each  occupying  fifteen 
feet  of  the  thirty  feet  frontage  on  Tradd  Street. 

At  what  date  this  building  was  erected  cannot  be 
decided,  as  it  is  for  the  first  time  described  in  the  above- 
mentioned  deed  of  partition.  The  two  have  since  been 
thrown  into  one  dwelling,  which  by  its  quaint  appearance 
at  once  attracts  the  eye. 

The  then  wives  of  these  two  doctors,  Mrs.  Isabella 
Fotheringham  and  Mrs.  Mary  McNeill,  were  grand- 
daughters of  Robert  Wright,  Chief  Justice  of  Carolina, 
1730-1739.  Their  uncle,  James  Wright,  became  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of  Georgia  in  1760,  and  Governor  in 
1762,  and  was  created  a  Baronet  ten  years  later.  He 
remained  the  Royal  Governor  until  the  end  of  the  Revo- 
lution, although  his  rule  was  much  interrupted  by  suc- 
cesses of  the  "  rebels." 

127 


EXAMPLES  OF  ARCHITECTURAL 

DEVELOPMENT  FOLLOWING 

THE  REVOLUTION 


CHAPTER  VI 

EXAMPLES  OF  ARCHITECTURAL  DEVEL- 
OPMENT FOLLOWING  THE 
REVOLUTION 

ik  FTER  the  Revolution  a  new  element  of  taste 
/  \  seems  to  have  appeared  m  the  old  capital  of  the 
i  \^new  State,  yet  the  older  stjdes  of  single-  and 
double-houses  continued  to  be  built  and  we  have  hand- 
some examples  of  them  down  to  1860. 

Of  two  general  variations  now  appearing  there  are  a 
number  of  examples,  erected  between  1790  and  1825. 
The  one  variation  was  in  placing  the  street  door,  hall, 
and  staircase  on  the  north  side  of  the  house,  while  on 
the  south  side  were  the  rooms,  en  suite  on  the  lower 
floors  where  the  reception  rooms  were.  Such  houses 
have  nearly  always  wide  piazzas  to  the  south. 

The  other  is  handsomely  shown  in  these  four  houses : 
The  ]Middleton-Pinckney  house,  now  the  water-works ;  the 
Joseph  ^lanigault  house,  now  belonging  to  ]\Ir.  Riggs ; 
the  RadclifFe  house,  long  the  residence  of  Judge  King, 
and  now  the  High  School,  and  the  Russell  house,  now 
the  residence  of  ]Mr.  Francis  J.  Pelzer,  Jr.  The  plans 
of  these  show  that  the  curved  staircase,  the  bay,  and  the 
oval  room,  had  found  acceptance  here.  These  four 
houses  we  will  attempt  to  describe. 

We  have  already  spoken  in  connection  with  Miles 
Bre^vton's  house  of  Jacob  and  Rebecca  Motte.     Their 

131 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

daughter,  Frances,  married,  July  31,  1783  {South 
Carolina  Historical  and  Genealogical  Magazine,  vol.  ii, 
p.  151),  John  ^liddleton,  who  had  been  an  officer 
in  Lee's  Legion  of  the  Continental  Line,  and  was  a 
brother  of  Sir  William  Fowle  ^Nliddleton  of  the  County 
of  Suffolk,  Baronet.  ]Mr.  INIiddleton  died  in  1784,  leav- 
ing his  wife  with  only  one  child,  a  son.  She  owned  in 
Ansonboro,  on  George  Street,  a  lot  conveyed  to  her 
father  on  April  21,  1770.  To  this  she  added,  in  1796,  a 
lot  to  the  w^est,  and  upon  these  two  she  began  to  build 
the  imposing  house  still  standing,  but  now  occuj^ied  by 
the  Water  Company  (1916). 

On  October  19,  1797,  she  married  ^lajor  (later 
JNIajor  General)  Thomas  Pinckney,  and  together  they 
completed  the  house. 

In  their  joint  will,  proved  at  his  death  in  1829,  is 
given  an  interesting  statement  of  the  cost  of  the  house. 

The  value  of  the  land  is  estimated  at $  4,000 

Mrs.  Middleton  before  her  second  marriage  expended 

on  it    10,800 

General  Pinckney  after  the  marriage  spent  upon  it  as 

by  vouchers  in  his  hands 35,000 

The  work  of  their  own  carpenters,  bricklayers,  etc.,  is 

then  estimated  at 4,000 

The  total  cost  of  tlie  house  to  Gen.  and  Mrs.  Pinckney 

was $53,800 

At  the  date  of  this  will  in  1822  the  selling  value  of 
the  house  is,  however,  placed  at  only  $35,000.  On  Feb- 
ruary 25,  1822,  General  and  INIrs.  Pinckney  conveyed 

132 


ARCHITECTURAL  DEVELOPMENT 

it  to  her  son,  John  Middleton,  for  $10,000  in  cash,  the 
rest  of  the  valuation  of  $35,000  being  intended  as  a  part 
of  his  inheritance. 

A  curious  fact  is  that  the  executors  of  John  ^liddle- 
ton  conveyed  on  December  2, 1826,  only  four  years  later, 
this  property  for  a  consideration  named  of  only  $17,000 
to  ]Mrs.  Juliet  Georgiana  Elliott,  born  Gibbes,  the  widow 
of  Barnard  Elliott.  ]Mr.  ^liddleton  was  still  living  in 
this  house  at  his  death  in  1826,  as  is  shown  by  the  funeral 
invitation  in  the  Gazette. 

Major-General  Thomas  Pinckney  and  his  brother. 
Major- General  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  were 
dominant  personalities  in  the  period  following  the  Revo- 
lution. They  had  both  been  commissioned  Captains 
early  in  the  war  in  the  1st  South  Carolina  Continentals, 
and  their  careers  were  curiously  similar.  During  the 
war  the  elder  brother  became  Colonel  of  the  regiment  and 
Thomas  the  ]Major.  The  latter  escaped  capture  at  the 
fall  of  Charles  Town  in  1780,  and  served  on  the  staff  of 
General  Gates  at  Camden,  where  he  was  seriously 
wounded  and  captured,  but  in  time  exchanged.  Both 
brothers  served  to  the  end  of  the  war.  Each  later  became 
a  ]Maj or- General  in  the  United  States  Army.  Each 
was  employed  in  the  diplomatic  service,  one  as  ^Minister 
to  France,  the  other  to  Great  Britain,  and  later  to 
Spain.  Charles  was  defeated  for  the  Presidency  in  1800. 
His  brother,  Thomas,  met  a  similar  defeat  in  1796,  both 
being  candidates  of  the  rapidly-disappearing  Federalist 
Party. 

In  the  Elliott  family  the  house  remained  until  1879, 

133 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

when  ^Irs.  IMarv  Evans  Gibbes,  devisee  of  Juliet  G. 
Elliott,  conveyed  the  house  to  Jesse  W.  Stair,  Jr.,  from 
whom  it  passed  to  the  Water  Company. 

The  house  is  large  and  imposing,  and  is  built  of  brick 
with  white  stone  trimmings.  Set  a  little  back  from  the 
street,  it  is  entered  through  a  bay.  The  partitions  of 
the  lower  floor  have  been  removed  or  altered  to  make 
space  for  the  engines  of  the  Water  Company,  but  it  is 
evident  that  a  broad  hall  with  rooms  on  either  side  led 
through  the  house  to  the  marble  staircase  in  another  bay 
at  the  back,  where  this  stairway  mounted  in  a  semi- 
circle to  the  next  floor.  The  rooms  of  the  upper  floors 
are  large  and  handsomely  finished. 

The  second  of  the  houses  we  have  selected  to  show 
the  new  taste  stands  in  AVraggboro,  on  ^Sleeting  Street 
between  John  Street  and  Ashmead  Place,  and  is  now 
owned  by  Mr.  Sidney  Riggs.  It  was  built  by  Joseph 
JNIanigault,  whose  mother  had  been  Elizabeth  Wragg,  of 
a  family  which  had  long  owned  that  borough,  where  to 
this  day  the  streets  bear  the  Christian  names  of  many 
Wraggs. 

Mr.  ISIanigault's  elder  brother,  Gabriel,  a  young  man 
of  large  means,  had  interested  himself,  while  in  Europe, 
in  the  study  of  architecture,  and  we  are  told  by  his 
grandson.  Dr.  Gabriel  JNIanigault,  that  he  designed, 
among  others,  the  house  of  his  brotlier  Joseph,  as  well 
as  his  own  at  the  corner  of  jNIeeting  and  George  Streets, 
and  we  are  led  to  suppose  that  the  house  was  built  some- 
where about  1790  or  perhaps  a  little  later. 

The  JNIanigault  family  was  of  the  French  Protestant 

134 


^^■:!^i^ 


\^M 


ARCHITECTURAL  DEVELOPMENT 

group,  who  came  to  Carolina  about  the  time  of  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  Gabriel,  the  son 
of  the  immigrant,  lived  a  long  and  successful  life  and 
accumulated  a  large  fortune  as  a  merchant  and  planter. 
In  addition  he  served  the  public  in  many  ways,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  pecuharly  lavish  in  his  contributions 
to  the  funds  of  the  Revolutionary  party.  His  son  Peter, 
a  barrister  of  the  Inner  Temple,  was  speaker  of  the 
Commons  House  of  South  Carolina,  1766-1772,  and 
presided  over  it  during  the  troubles  which  followed  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  (See  South  Carolina  His- 
torical and  Genealogical  Magazine,  vol.  xv,  p.  18,  for 
account  of  Statue  of  Pitt. )  Dying  while  yet  young,  he 
left  the  two  sons  above  named,  and  also  two  daughters, 
who  married  respectively  Mr.  Nathaniel  Heyward  and 
Mr.  Thomas  Middleton. 

Joseph  Manigault  inherited  from  his  grandfather 
the  Barony  of  Seewee  or  Auendaw,  granted  to  Land- 
grave Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson  in  1709,  and  bought  by 
Gabriel  INIanigault  in  1763,  in  the  possession  of  whose 
descendants  it  remained  until  1870.  (See  South  Caro- 
lina Historical  and  Genealogical  Magazine,  vol.  xii, 
p.  109.) 

The  house  in  Wraggboro  was  sold  in  1852  by  Mr. 
Manigault's  executor  to  Mr.  George  N.  Reynolds,  Jr., 
from  whom  it  passed  in  1864  to  Mr.  John  S.  Riggs,  in 
whose  family  it  has  ever  since  remained.  The  lot,  when 
the  house  was  built,  was  much  larger  than  to-day,  the 
eastern  part  having  been  divided  from  it  and  sold  by  a 
later  owner.     When  Mr.  Manigault  lived  in  it,  there 

137 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 


were  two  entrances.    The  one  on  Jolin  Street  was  cliiefly 
used.     A  short  walk  led  to  a  handsome  Hight  of  stone 


i/c-JtaA  Mcuccutt H(>ust 

J  colt  lrUSmr~—~m/si.t 

PLAN  OF  MANIGAULT  HOUSE  AND  GROUNDS 

steps,  from  whicli  tlie  door  opened  into  the  bow  of  the 
hall  which  ran  through  the  house  to  the  other  door.  Pass- 
ing through  this  to  the  southern  piazza,  another  flight  of 

138 


ARCHITECTURAL  DEVEI>OPMENT 

steps  and  a  long  walk  led  through  the  garden  to  the 
entrance  on  Ashniead  Place,  under  a  little  dome-topped 
pavilion  called  the  garden-house.  The  steps  at  the 
northern  door  have  been  removed  and  it  has  been  disused 
as  an  entrance.    The  house  is  a  parallelogram  with  bows 


4' 


V 


GARDEN  ENTRANCE  OF  MANIGAULT  HOUSE 

on  the  north  and  east  sides  and  a  bowed  piazza  on  the 
west,  and  a  long  broad  piazza  on  the  south.  The  hall  is 
wide  and  broken  by  an  arch,  with  the  staircase  at  the 
north  end,  sweeping  up  with  a  fine  curve  and  lighted  by 
a  triple  window  on  the  landing.  On  either  side  at  the 
south  end  are  the  dining-room  and  library,  while  the 

139 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

north  side  is  taken  up  witli  smaller  rooms  and  pantries. 
On  the  second  floor  the  upper  hall  loses  in  length  because 
there  is  a  card-room  at  the  south  end  of  it,  opening  on 
the  piazza  through  a  wide  door  with  side  lights. 

The  drawing-room  extends  across  the  whole  western 
end  of  the  house.  The  arrangement  of  the  rest  of  the 
house  is  interesting,  but  too  irregular  to  describe.     The 


MANTEL  IN  MANIGAl  LT  HOISK 

flnish  of  the  whole  is  very  fine.  From  the  third  floor 
to  the  second  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall  which  separates 
the  halls  from  the  smaller  rooms  to  the  south,  there  is  a 
curious  very  small  and  narrow  staircase,  entered  on  the 
third  floor  through  a  movable  panel,  and  on  the  second 
through  a  little  closet  with  a  door  on  the  hall.  There 
can  be  imagined  no  possible  use  for  it. 

The  third  example  of  this  group  is  the  house  which, 
with  large  additions,  is  to-day  the  High  School  and  was 
long  the  residence  of  Hon.  Mitchell  King.    It  was  at  the 

1  U) 


ARCHITECTURAL  DEVELOPMENT 

beginning  of  the  L^st  century  known  as  the  Radcliffe 
House.  It  is  built  at  the  corner  of  George  and  JNIeeting 
Streets  across  two  lots,  the  last  of  which  was  conveyed 
to  the  trustees  of  ]Mrs.  JNIary  Petrie,  widow  of  Edmund 
Petrie,  in  1796.     She  sold  the  lots  in  1800  to  Thomas 


DOORWAY  IN  MANK.Al  l.i    Hoi -K 

Radcliffe,  who  died  in  1806,  leaving  to  his  wife  a  life 
estate  in  the  house,  which  he  had  just  finished  building. 
She  resided  there  until  1821,  and  in  1824  it  was  sold  to 
Judge  King. 

Judge  King  was  born  in  Scotland  and  came  to 
Charleston  in  1805,  where  he  was  some  years  later  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar.  He  rapidly  rose  to  the  front  rank 
of  his  profession,  and  held  his  place  there  through  a 
long  life.    His  house  was  known  as  a  centre  of  hospitality, 

141 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

and  the  tradition  of  INIrs.  King's  annual  balls,  given  for 
many  years  during  "  Race  Week,"  lingers  still  around 
her  house.  At  his  death  his  fine  collection  of  books  was 
given  to  the  College  of  Charleston  and  is  to-day  a  valu- 
able part  of  its  library.  In  1880  his  house  was  pur- 
chased from  his  executors,  and  was  remodelled  to  fit  it 
for  use  as  a  High  School.  As  all  the  additions  have 
been  made  at  the  back,  the  plan  and  finish  of  the  original 
house  have  been  little  interfered  with.  Nevertheless,  the 
eye  misses  the  piazzas  which  filled  the  angles  between  the 
front  rooms  and  the  bay  on  which  the  street  door  opens. 

The  resemblance  in  the  general  plan  between  the 
JNliddleton-Pinckney  house  and  this  Radcliife  house  is 
quite  marked.  Each  is  entered  through  a  bay,  and  in 
each  tlie  hall  runs  through  the  house  to  a  staircase  in 
another  bay  at  the  back,  the  stairs  rising  in  a  curve  to 
the  next  floor. 

The  last  house  in  this  group  of  four  was  built  by 
Mr.  Nathaniel  Russell  and  completed  in  1811.  It  diff"ers 
in  many  respects  from  the  three  last  described,  but  has 
certain  features  in  common  with  one  or  another  of  them. 

The  beautiful  staircase  is  an  ellipse  taking  up  the 
central  hall  and  springing  unsup^Dorted  from  each  floor 
to  the  next,  which  gives  a  peculiarly  graceful  and  airy 
efl*ect  to  the  hall.  It  is  lighted  by  a  triple  window  on 
the  first  flight  and  by  an  oval  window  above.  The  large 
half-octagon  bay,  which  projects  on  the  south  of  the 
house,  contains  on  each  story  a  large  oval  room,  charm- 
ing in  proportion  and  finish.  Each  of  these  rooms  opens 
on  the  staircase-hall  and  landings,  through  a  rounded 
door  of  the  exact  curve  of  the  oval  both  within  and 

142 


>. 

?; 

I 


t 


s 


4 


WINDOW  IN  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL,  FORMERLY  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  JUDGE  KING 


10 


DOORWAY  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL,  FORMERLY  THE  RESIDENCE  OF  JUDGE  KING 


ARCHITECTURAL  DEVELOPMENT 

without.  It  is  only  at  the  back  of  the  house  beyond  the 
staircase  that  later  alterations  have  been  made.  The 
rooms  on  the  street  front,  the  oval  rooms,  and  the  stair- 
case are  the  same  on  each  floor. 

The  entrance  from  the  street  is  into  the  lowest  of 
these  front  rooms,  and  from  this  the  staircase-hall  is 
entered  by  a  beautiful  double  door.    Over  the  street  door 


^^5&V'.  ::,;\'^!^®^ 


r^ca^--   feu -miXK    Mi 


j    r  '\s^r 


■'iT»#^  '•=--"^'^t' -  -"~ 


■■    .::<:^M.>M^:^- .  ^Jm  \-.\-\  ^'.m 


■r?>  f 


y^^^ii::i  J,:^|--^-  ■  ^ 


.  •?»:- 


f^^m^isa^i^- 


•  ''  "•■"••*""'■"   ,.,_„:.-..•  ,:    .,;;:;:;::;?/'■•'■:;>(,. tS-^^'^f'i 

HOUSE  BUILT  BY  NATHANIEL  RUSSELL,  COMPLETED  IN  1811 
Now  the  Residence  of  Mr.  F.  J.  Pelzer,  Jr. 

the  letters  N.  R.  appear  in  the  wrought-iron  balcony 
which  runs  around  the  east  and  south  of  the  house.  The 
large  garden  to  the  front  and  to  the  south,  and  the 
Scotch  churchyard  to  the  north,  with  numerous  trees, 
make  a  fine  setting  for  this  house.  The  extensive  brick 
outbuildings  back  of  the  house  are  quite  in  keeping 
with  it. 

Mr.  Nathaniel  Russell,  like  General  Pinckney,  from 

149 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

whose  will  we  have  quoted  to  tlie  same  efFeet,  realized 
that  the  cost  of  his  residence  far  exceeded  its  selling 
value,  for  in  his  will,  dated  ]May  26,  1819,  he  ex^jresses 
his  persuasion  that  this  cost  should  not  he  taken  as  the 


r-*-T 


-^:.- 


■*■■  eVA..T* 


.n^-V__ 


rule  of  valuation  in  the  distrihution  of  his  propertj',  but 
prescribes  the  sum  at  which  it  should  he  valued  as 
$38,000. 

IVic  Times  of  September  11,  1811,  in  its  account  of 
the  tornado  which  swej)t  diagonally  across  the  town  on 
the  8th  of  the  same  month,  tells  of  the  damage  done  to 
this  house  as  follows: 


STAIRCASE  IN  RUSSELL  HOUSE 


ARCHITECTURAL  DEVELOPMENT 


"  The  new  and  large  mansion  house  of  Nathaniel 
Russell,  Esq.  together  with  his  extensive  back  buildings 
entirely  unroofed ;  the  windows  broken  in,  and  his  furni- 
ture (for  the  most  part)  entirely  ruined — his  loss  it  is 
said  will  not  fall  short  of  $20,000."  This  fixes  approx- 
imately the  date  of  the  house. 

]Mr.  Russell  came  to  Charleston  from  Bristol,  Rhode 


i 


MANTEL  IN  OVAL  ROOM  ON  THIRD  FLOOR  OF  RUSSELL  HOUSE 

Island,  and  had  here  a  long  and  successful  business 
career.  His  only  two  children  became  the  wives  of 
Mr.  Arthur  ^liddleton  and  Bishop  Theodore  Dehon, 
the  latter  a  native  of  Boston.  Bishop  Dehon  had  been 
until  1809  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Newport,  which 
cure  he  had  resigned  to  take  charge  of  St.  Michael's  in 
Charleston,  where  he  died  in  1817  as  the  highly  esteemed 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese. 

155 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Mrs.  Dehon  inherited  her  father's  house,  and  resided 
in  it  for  many  years.  She  died  in  1857,  and  her  chil- 
dren, ^Irs.  Paul  Trapier,  Dr.  Theodore  Uehon,  and 
Rev.  William  Dehon,  sold  the  house  to  Hon.  Robert 


■'»'■'''      lilt  f 


^JcrvfT: 


FRONT  DOOR  OF  RUSSELL  HOUSE 

Francis  Withers  Allston,  then  Governor  of  South  Caro- 
lina. In  1870  his  executors  sold  it  to  the  Sisters  of  Our 
Lady  of  IMercy,  and  from  them  it  passed  to  Dr.  Lane 
JVIullally,  and  later  to  Mr.  Francis  J.  Pelzer,  the 
present  owner. 

156 


THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  GRANVILLE'S 
BASTION 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  GRANVILLE'S 
BASTION 

WE  must  remember  that  the  fire  of  1740  de- 
stroyed the  whole  of  East  Bay  from  Broad 
Street  to  Granville's  Bastion,  while  that  of 
1778  left  only  fifteen  houses  between  Queen  Street  and 
the  Bastion.  Therefore  it  seems  probable  that  the  group 
of  old  houses  on  the  bay  below  Longitude  Lane  may 
have  been  among  those  spared  by  the  second  of  those 
fires,  and  that  possibly  some  of  them  date  back  nearly  to 
the  first. 

Among  later  buildings  in  that  part  of  East  Bay 
Street  below  Tradd  may  be  mentioned  the  two  large 
three-story  brick  buildings,  each  holding  three  separate 
*'  tenement  "  houses  at  the  foot  of  Longitude  Lane.  In 
Charleston  from  the  earliest  day  a  "  tenement "  house 
was  understood  to  be  one  built  with  another  within  the 
same  outer  walls  and  under  one  roof,  and  separated 
from  its  neighbor  by  a  partition  wall,  which  in  the  old 
days  was  usually  of  brick,  running  from  the  ground  to 
the  roof.  These  two  buildings  were  erected  about  1800 
by  Arnoldus  Vanderhorst,  Governor  of  South  Carolina, 
1792-1794,  and  stood  one  on  each  side  of  the  entrance 
to  his  wharf.  The  northern  one  was  pulled  down  after 
the  Confederate  War  and  its  material  used  to  erect  on 
its  site  a  cotton  shed  or  store-house.  But  the  southern 
one  still  remains,  and  by  its  massive  appearance  gives  a 

159 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

striking  impression  of  the  commercial  prosperity  that 
ahnost  immediately  followed  the  Revolution. 

This  also  reminds  us  that  these  old  houses  in  the 
husiness  section  were  built  to  allow  of  the  use  of  the 
lower  floors  as  offices  or  salesrooms,  while  the  upper 
stories  could  be  used  as  dwellings.  Large  warehouses 
still  remain  in  the  yards  as  evidence  of  this.  Long  since, 
these  lower  floors,  as  well  as  the  warehouses  at  the 
])ack,  have  been  brought  into  use  as  part  of  the  residences. 

The  remaining  Vanderhorst  building  still  presents 
a  good  appearance.  Built  of  Carolina  grey  brick  with 
white  stone  trimmings,  the  long  line  of  the  high-pitched 
roof  is  relieved  by  the  bull's-eye  then  so  commonly  used. 

Among  the  older  houses  on  the  west  side  of  the  street 
stands  the  more  modern  residence  of  ]\Ir.  Rawlins 
Lowndes  (1916).  This  handsome  house  was  built  after 
1818  by  ^Ir.  John  Fraser,  who  founded  the  great  busi- 
ness firm  of  John  Fraser  &  Co.,  of  which  a  partner, 
Mr.  George  A.  Trenholm,  was  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury to  the  Confederate  States. 

The  next  owner,  Mr.  Charles  T.  Lowndes,  improved 
tlie  jDroperty  by  pulling  down  the  house  to  the  south 
and  adding  the  beautiful  piazzas  rising  to  the  third 
story,  while  his  son,  the  present  owner,  added  further 
to  its  attractiveness  by  pulling  down  yet  another  liouse 
to  the  south,  making  space  for  a  large  garden.  It  is  a 
handsome  specimen  of  the  single-house  so  often  sj^oken 
of.  The  rooms  are  lofty,  with  large  windows  and  with 
doors  of  mahogany.  The  spacious  sweep  of  the  stair- 
case is  very  striking. 

160 


NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  GRANVILLE'S  BASTION 

Next  south  of  this  is  an  old  house  of  a  much  earlier 
date.  This  stands  upon  the  northern  half  of  Lot  No.  2 
in  the  old  plan  or  model  of  Charles  Town,  which  lot  was 
granted  in  1681  to  Theophilus  Patey.  How  this  passed 
to  Joseph  Boone  we  cannot  say,  but  in  1717  it  is  found 
in  his  possession.  He  married  Ann  Axtell,  widow  of 
John  Alexander.  Mrs.  Alexander  was  the  daughter  of 
Landgrave  Daniel  Axtell,  and  sister  of  "  the  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Blake,"  wife  of  Joseph  Blake,  Governor  and  Lord 
Proprietor  of  the  colony. 

In  the  proprietary  period  it  was  customary  to  give 
the  courtesy  title  of  "  Lady  "  to  the  wives  of  the  Land- 
graves. Thus  in  old  deeds  we  come  across  such  names 
as  the  "  Lady  Rebecca  Axtell,"  and  the  "  Lady  Eliza- 
beth Blake  "  and  others.  It  is  probably  needless  to  ex- 
plain that  under  the  "  Fundamental  Constitutions,"  wi'it- 
ten  by  the  philosopher,  John  Locke,  in  1669,  there  was 
provision  made  for  the  creation  of  a  Carolinian  nobility 
with  the  titles  of  Landgrave  and  Cacique.  With  the 
patent  of  Landgrave  went  grants  of  four  baronies  and 
with  that  of  Cacique  went  two — each  barony  containing 
12,000  acres.  These  titles  were  gradually  disused  and 
seem  to  have  been  generally  borne  only  by  two  genera- 
tions, though  in  a  few  cases  by  three. 

Locke  was  then  the  Secretary  of  Lord  Ashley,  after- 
wards Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  and  long  shared  the  fortunes 
of  that  great  statesman,  "  sagacious,  bold,  and  turbulent 
of  wit."  In  1671  Locke  was  created  a  Landgrave  of 
Carolina,  but  is  not  known  ever  to  have  visited  the 
province. 

11  161 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

By  Boone's  will  in  1733  this  property  passed  to  Mrs. 
Boone,  who  devised  it  in  1741)  as  the  house  slie  "  did  then 
live  in  "  to  her  hushand's  two  nephews,  Thomas  and 
Charles  Boone.  This  Thomas  Boone  was  the  Royal  Gov- 
ernor of  South  Carolina  1761-1764. 

The  Boones  sold  the  lot  in  1753  to  Thomas  Smith, 
who  in  the  same  year  eonveyed  it  to  William  Roper,  and 
the  descendants  of  the  last  continued  to  possess  it  until 
1836.  The  construction  of  this  house  gives  it  the  ap- 
pearance of  heing  very  old,  and  would  lead  one  to  sup- 
pose that  it  was  built  by  Boone.  But  the  fact  that  the 
fire  of  1740  is  said  to  have  consumed  all  the  houses  on 
that  part  of  the  Bay,  seems  to  suggest  a  later  date. 
How^ever,  jNIrs.  Boone  in  1749  declares  that  she  resided 
there,  and  therefore,  if  it  was  burnt  in  1740,  she  nmst 
have  promptly  rebuilt  it — possibly  wathin  the  same  walls, 
which  are  to-day  massive  enough  to  have  resisted  the  fire. 

As  an  indication  that  this  was  actually  done  where 
possible,  we  have  the  following  Gazette  notice  to  show 
as  authority: 

"  South  Carolina  Gazette,  Dec.  9,  1745. 
To  be  sold,  a  corner  Lot  in  Charlestown,  opposite  to  Col. 
Brewton's  containing  103  feet  front  in  Church  Street,  and  40 
feet  in  Tradd  Street. 

Alexander  Fraser. 
N.   B.      There  is  upon   the  said  l^ot  two  very  good  brick 
Chimneys  and  a  Foundation,  which  may  serve  another  Building." 

The  outer  walls  of  the  house  on  the  lowest  floor  are 
of  great  thickness,  measuring  twenty-eight  inches  at 
about  five  feet  from  the  ground,  and  a  striking  peculiarity 

1G2 


NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  GRANVILLE'S  BASTION 

is  that  the  partition  wall  which  divided  the  house  just 
beyond  the  staircase  is  also  very  massive,  though  not  as 
thick  as  the  outer  walls.  The  house  is  to-day  of  the 
type  called  the  "  single-house,"  entered  from  the  street 
on  to  a  wide  piazza  and  thence  into  a  hall  in  the  middle 


pTAIRCASE  in  residence  of  MR.  GEORGE   MOFFETT 

of  the  house.  A  careful  examination  suggests  that  the 
staircase-hall  was  originally  a  part  of  the  large  front 
room  on  the  street.  The  fact  that  the  middle  window 
of  this  room  is  larger  than  the  other  two  suggests  also 
that  it  was  the  original  entrance  to  the  house.  A  pretty 
staircase  leads  to  the  upper  stories  and  is  lighted  by  a 
large  arched  window.  The  panelled  rooms  have  in 
many  of  the  window  cases  seats  in  the  thickness  of  the 
walls.     The  drawing-room  is  the  front  room  on  the 

163 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

second  floor  with  a  curious  loss  of  space  on  the  north 
wall  on  one  side  of  the  chimney,  the  explanation  of  which 
is  left  to  the  imagination.  The  few  alterations  that 
are  noticed  have  all  been  made  in  good  taste  and  in 
keeping  with  the  style  of  the  house.     Among  these  are 


LIBRARY  IN  MR.  MOFFETT'S  HOI  SK 


almost  certainly  the  well-built  piazzas,  of  which  there 
is  one  to  each  story,  and  which  must  have  been  added 
quite  early.  The  iron  gateway  to  the  carriage  entrance 
at  the  south  and  the  iron  balcony  taken  from  another 
old  house,  are  among  the  improvements  made  by  the 
present  owner,  Mr.  George  H.  IMoffett. 

A  small  brancli  of  Vanderhorst  Creek  with  its  marsh, 
at  the  time  of  the  original  grant,  ran  up  west  of  this 
lot  between  it  and  Cliurch  Street,  heading  near  Tradd. 

164 


NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  GRANVILLE'S  BASTION 

This  was  filled  up  at  an  early  date,  and  the  alley  cross- 
ing it  bears  the  name  of  Justinus  Stoll.  The  western 
half  of  this  alley  was  apparently  originally  a  court,  but 
a  very  narrow  little  passage  or  pathway  now  connects  it 
with  East  Bay  just  south  of  Mr.  MofFett's  wall.     The 


DINING-ROOM  IN  MR.  MOFFETT'S  (HOUSE 

queer  old  houses  that  filled  the  more  open  part  of  this 
alle}^  it  is  sad  to  say,  have  nearly  all  disappeared,  and 
those  remaining  have  been  much  changed  to  the  injury 
of  an  exceedingly  picturesque  spot ;  but  the  eastern  end, 
where  two  people  can  scarcely  walk  abreast,  has  still  an 
old-fashioned  air  with  a  high  brick  wall  on  one  side  and 
a  great  brick  house  on  the  other. 

Between  Stoll's  Alley  and  the  "  High  Battery  "  all 
the  houses  of  the  eighteenth  century  have  disappeared 

167 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

except  one  that  is  quite  noticeable  for  its  quaintness 
and  solid  air.  Its  thick  walls  and  old-fashioned  in- 
terior with  the  quaint  cupboards  mark  its  period, 
although  both  its  date  and  the  name  of  the  builder  are 


A  BEUKOOM  IN  MR.  MOl-l  ETTS  HOUSE 

lost.  This  house  was  bought  in  1821  by  John  Raven 
INIatthewes  and  is  to-day  in  the  possession  of  his  grand- 
daughter, ]Miss  INIatthewes. 

Nearly  opposite  to  it  is  the  house  still  called  the 
Missroon  House,  which,  having  been  recently  converted 
into  a  boarding  house  called  the  Shann-ock  Terrace,  was 
shattered  by  the  gale  of  1911.  This  stands  on  a  portion 
of  the  site  of  Granville's  Bastion.  ( See  ^ICO  Book  C-6, 
33;  alsoQ-6,  61.) 

(M.C.O.  stands  for  Mesne  Conveyance  Office,  where  all  deeds 
affecting  real  estate  are  or  should  be  recorded.) 

1C8 


NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  GRANVILLE'S  BASTION 

The  western  part  of  the  Bastion  was  thrown  into 
East  Bay  Street,  and  the  eastern  part  was  sold  by  the 
Commissioners  of  PubHc  Lands  to  Hary  (sic)  Grant 
about  1789.  By  him  it  was  conveyed  in  1795  to  Francis 
Kinloch  and  by  him  in  1799  to  James  Lee,  who  the  next 
year  sold  it  to  the  trustees  of  Mrs.  Mary  Fraser,  the 
wife  of  Dr.  James  Fraser.  From  Mrs.  Fraser  it  passed 
in  1807  to  Captain  Missroon,  by  whose  name  it  is  still 
called.  The  survey  or  plat,  made  for  the  Commissioners 
in  1789,  is  interesting,  for  it  gives  the  foundations  of 
the  wall  of  the  bastion  on  the  north,  east,  and  south,  and 
at  a  little  distance  on  those  sides  the  "  remains  of  the  old 
Pickets."  The  house  was  apparently  built  by  Mr.  Hary 
Grant,  for  the  consideration  named  in  his  deed  to  Kinloch 
was  £3000,  at  a  date  when  the  "  pound  "  had  resumed  its 
sterling  value,  the  old  colonial  currency  having  been 
swept  away  by  the  war. 


THE  FORTIFICATIONS  ON  WHITE  POINT, 

AND  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  EAST 

AND  SOUTH  BATTERIES 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  FORTIFICATIONS  ON  WHITE  POINT, 

AND  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  EAST 

AND  SOUTH  BATTERIES 

WE  are  not  able  to  assert  positively  when  the 
broad  mouth  of  Vanderhorst  Creek  was 
closed,  but  in  the  minutes  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Fortifications,  1755-1757,  we  find  many  details 
of  the  building  of  the  works  from  Granville's  Bastion  to 
Broughton's  Battery,  and  also  of  the  construction  of  the 
large  flood-gate  on  that  line.  This  can  only  be  the  one  of 
which  the  massive  foundations  still  remain  under  East 
Battery  Street  where  Water  Street  enters  it.  On  May 
25,  1756,  JNIajor  de  Brahm,  the  engineer  in  charge, 
ordered  that  "  the  line  from  Granville's  Bastion  at 
]Mr.  Roper's  wharf  home  to  Broughton's  Bastion  is  to  be 
carried  level  with  the  heighth  of  the  Flood-Gate  newly 
constructed." 

Broughton's  Battery  was  originally  a  detached  work, 
but  became  after  1756  a  bastion  in  the  new  line  of  works. 
We  find  in  the  minutes  of  November  8,  1757,  the  follow- 
ing: "  The  ^Middle  Bastion  between  Broughton's  Bat- 
tery and  Granville's  Bastion  being  finished  and  Cannon 
Mounted  therein,  and  his  Exc'y  the  Governor  being 
acquainted  therewith,  he  Agreed  with  the  Commissioners 
to  meet  there  on  Thursday  next  (being  his  ^lajesty's 
Birth  Day)  at  four  o' Clock  in  the  Afternoon  to  Drink 
his  Majesty's  Health  and  name  the  said  Bastion." 

173 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

The  lines  built  at  this  time  from  Broughton  s  Bat- 
tery along  the  south  water  front  extended  to  Lamboll's 
Bridge,  which  was  a  pier  extending  just  along  the  west 
line  of  King  Street  where  it  met  the  water  at  what  is 
now  South  Bay  Street.  (See  plat  INICO  X-3,  p.  162, 
in  which  is  laid  down  the  line  of  fortifications  from  Meet- 
ing Street  to  King  Street.)  In  Dr.  Shecut's  sketch  of 
the  original  "  Topography  of  Charleston,"  printed  by 
A.  E.  Miller  for  the  author  in  Charleston,  1819,  he  errs 
as  to  the  location  of  Lamboll's  Bridge. 

The  extension  of  the  fortifications  beyond  this  point 
need  not  be  described  here. 

This  feverish  activity  in  repairing  and  extending 
the  defenses  of  the  town  was  due  to  the  then  flagrant 
war  with  France.  The  military  engineer  in  charge  in 
1755-1756  was  John  William  Gerard  de  Brahm,  who 
is  said  to  have  been  a  captain  in  the  service  of  the  Em- 
peror before  coming  to  America,  and  who  was  continu- 
ously employed  in  such  work  in  Georgia  and  South  Caro- 
lina up  to  and  through  the  Revolution.  De  Brahm  seems 
to  have  given  up  the  personal  supervision  of  the  work 
in  1756,  for  we  find  him  in  that  year  in  the  Cherokee 
Country,  assisting  in  building  Fort  Loudoun  on  the  Ten- 
nessee, the  tragic  fall  of  which  in  1760  startled  and 
alarmed  the  Southern  colonies.  An  engineer  offi.cer 
named  Plesse  was  then  employed  in  supervising  this 
work.  This  gentleman  was  an  officer  in  the  Royal 
Americans,  at  that  time  stationed  in  Charles  Town. 

The  minutes  of  the  Commissioners  are  full  of  pic- 
turesque details  of  the  making  of  fascines  and  of  the 

174 


WHITE  POINT  AND  EAST  AND  SOUTH  BATTERIES 

transportation    of   marsh    "  mudd "    for    which    many 
"  periauguas "    were    bought    or    hired.     These    were 
usually  described  as  of  the  capacity  of  so  many  barrels 
of  rice.     They  were  enlarged  cypress  canoes  much  used 
along  the  coast  as   carriers.     The   word  is   properly 
"  piragua  "  and  came  from  the  Spanish  of  the  West 
Indies,  but  the  varieties  of  the  spelhng  in  common  use 
were  infinite.     The  building  of  gun-carriages  of  cypress 
and  frequently  of  "  mahogony  "  (»ic)  and  the  mounting 
of  the  guns  are  told  in  interesting  detail,  while  the  dis- 
putes between  Captain  de  Brahm  and  the  Commissioners 
induce  an  occasional  smile.     The  sources  of  labor  were 
various.    A  large  number  of  Frenchmen  (sic)  employed, 
caused  a  search  for  overseers  who  could  understand  and 
talk  to  them.     These  were  the  unhappy  Acadian  exiles, 
of  whom  over  1000  were  deported  to  Charles  Town  in 
1755-1756.    A  number  of  Germans  also  are  spoken  of, 
but  it  cannot  be  said  to  what  special  group  of  immigrants 
they    belonged.     Xegroes    too    were    employed,    both 
"  country-born  "  and  "  new."    Also,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Bouquet,  of  the  Royal  Americans,  in  1757,  expressed  his 
willingness  to  employ  his  soldiers  on  the  works  at  three 
shillings  and  sixpence  currency,  or  sixpence  sterling,  per 
diem  to  each  man,  who  should  also  be  given  a  gill  of  rum 
every  day. 

The  line  of  the  works  after  crossing  the  flood-gate 
cannot  now  be  accurately  traced,  but  it  seems  evident 
that  the  middle,  or  Lyttleton's  Bastion,  was  where  the 
high  ground  came  through  the  edge  of  marsh  nearly  to 
the  water  line.    This  was  where  Fort  Mechanic  was  built 

175 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

about  1795,  upon  the  site  of  which  the  Ilohnes  and 
Alston  houses  hiter  stood.  Althougli  after  17o7  there 
appears  to  have  been  an  easy  passage  along  the  fortifica- 
tions from  Granville's  Bastion  to  Broughton's  Battery, 
it  was  not  until  1787  that  the  Legislature  passed  an  act 
for  "  making  and  completing  East  Bay  Street  con- 
tinued." This  made  possi))le  the  filling  up  of  Vander- 
horst  Creek  and  the  low  spots  on  the  water  front.  Sev- 
eral amending  acts  were  passed  up  to  1797,  at  which 
date  the  street  seems  to  have  been  completed.  A  plat 
by  Purcell,  dated  1796,  shows  the  line  of  the  street  and 
the  location  of  Fort  JNIechanic. 

The  lack  of  stone  in  the  low  country  of  South  Caro- 
lina was  severely  felt  in  all  attempts  to  bank  out  the 
sea,  and  the  need  of  it  was  early  shown  by  the  Acts  of 
Assembly  providing  for  these  constructions.  The  one 
passed  on  March  25,  1738,  to  build  the  wall  from  White 
Point  to  Vanderhorst  Creek,  ordered  that  the  founda- 
tions below  the  water  should  be  of  Bermuda  stone,  upon 
which,  up  to  a  certain  height,  the  works  should  be  of 
brick.  There  is  also  a  sweeping  provision  that  all  stone 
ballast  brought  into  the  Province  should  be  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Commissioners  for  such  work. 

This  fact  seems  to  have  been  forgotten  or  ignored  in 
the  accounts,  which  assume  that  rock  or  stone  was  not 
used  until  after  the  gale  of  1804.  It  was  ahcni/s  used, 
but  it  was  a  question  of  degree  and  quantity,  and  the 
sea-wall  of  the  High  Battery  was  not  developed  to  its 
present  height  and  solidity  until  after  the  gale  of  1854, 
when  it  had  been  breached  in  several  places,  not  only  by 

170 


WHITE  POINT  AND  EAST  AND  SOUTH  BATTERIES 

the  sea,  but  by  the  pounding  against  the  wall  of  a  large 
ship  which  at  last  rounded  the  point  of  the  Battery  and 
was  blown  upon  the  marsh  in  the  neighborhood  of  Plum 
Island.  The  granite  sea-wall,  then  raised  and  strength- 
ened, has  passed  through  every  subsequent  gale  unin- 
jured.    (See  Charleston  Year  Book  of  1880.) 

It  was  not  until  between  1820  and  1830  that  con- 
tinuous building  along  the  street  was  possible,  and 
between  1835  and  1845  this  was  hastened  by  the  city 
acquiring  all  the  irregular  and  disputed  parcels  of  land 
and  dividing  them  into  lots  and  then  selling  them. 

This  same  plan  of  improvement  was  continued  as  to 
what  is  to-day  called  South  Battery,  and  by  1850  all  the 
water  lots  as  far  as  King  Street  had  been  acquired.  South 
Bay  Street  had  been  straightened,  and  White  Point 
Garden  had  been  laid  out.  However,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  marsh  which  extended  up  between 
the  west  side  of  JNIeeting  Street  and  King  Street  nearly 
to  Smith's  Lane  (now  East  Lamboll  Street)  had  been 
filled  up  even  before  1770  by  the  enterprise  of  Mr.  Josiah 
Smith  "  at  the  expense  of  about  £1200  Sterling,"  and 
the  lots  sold  to  various  people  who  had  erected  upon 
them  handsome  residences,  which  will  later  be  described. 

Josiah  Smith,  Jr.,  was  a  merchant  of  Charles  Town, 
and  was  among  the  group  of  political  prisoners  at  St. 
Augustine  taken  at  the  capture  of  Charles  Town  by  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  in  1780.  His  father,  the  Rev.  Josiah 
Smith,  was  a  clergjmian  of  the  Independent  (or  Circu- 
lar )  Church  and  he,  too,  was  exiled  at  the  same  time,  in 
his   seventy-seventh   year,   when   he   sought   refuge   in 

12  177 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Philadelphia,  where  he  died  and  was  buried  within  the 
walls  of  the  Arch  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Rev. 
Josiah  Smith  was  the  son  of  Dr.  George  Smith  and  the 
grandson  of  the  first  Landgrave  Smith.  Josiah  Smith, 
Jr.,  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-five. 

We  have  spoken  heretofore  of  the  absorbing  tale,  so 
well  told  by  ]Mr.  Shirley  Carter  Hughson,  of  the  various 
battles,  the  trials,  and  the  executions  of  pirates  captured 
off  the  coast  by  Governor  Johnson  and  Colonel  Rhett  in 
1718-1719.  They,  or  many  of  them,  were  buried  some- 
w^here  in  this  marsh  at  the  foot  of  ]Meeting  Street,  near 
the  low-w^ater  mark.  The  peaceful  rest  to  which  they 
were  surely  entitled  after  expiating  a  stormy  life  of 
crime  and  combat,  has  been  broken  by  the  march  of 
modern  improvements,  but  no  complaint  by  the  living 
or  the  dead  has  marked  the  disturbance  of  their  resting- 
place. 

The  City,  between  1850  and  1860,  commenced  to 
buy  the  property  on  the  south  side  of  South  Bay,  with 
the  intention  of  extending  the  Garden  to  the  westward. 
The  Confederate  War,  however,  ended  this  scheme  with 
many  another,  and  the  purchased  land  was  sold.  \Vithin 
the  last  decade  the  scheme  was  revived  and  the  reclama- 
tion of  this  low  ground  to  the  foot  of  Tradd  Street  has 
been  completed.  But  alas!  The  idea  of  a  public  Park 
or  Garden  was  abandoned  and  the  reclaimed  land  has 
been  broken  up  into  building  lots,  retaining  for  the  public 
pleasure  merely  a  broad  drive  along  the  extended  sea- 
wall. 

This  account  of  the  building  of  the  Battery  shows  us 
that,  with  a  few  exceptions  of  an  earlier  and  of  a  later 

178 


WHITE  POINT  AND  EAST  AND  SOUTH  BATTERIES 

date,  the  group  of  houses  facing  East  and  South  Bat- 
teries were  built  between  1835  and  1860,  giving  very 
interesting  examples  of  the  ideas  in  Charleston  as  to 
dwelling-houses  during  that  quarter  of  a  century.  And 
we  find  then  a  greater  variety  even  where  there  is  a 
continuance  of  certain  earlier  traditions.  For  as  early 
as  1800  there  began  to  appear  a  modification  of  the 
ancient  single-house,  making  it  somewhat  wider,  so  as 
to  allow  the  street  door  with  a  hall  and  the  staircase  to 
be  placed  on  the  northern  side  of  the  house,  while  the 
rooms  as  a  rule  are  en  suite  to  the  south.  Yet  they  clung 
to  the  drawing-rooms  on  the  second  floor  and  to  the 
broad  piazzas.  The  practice  of  putting  kitchens  and  ser- 
vants' accommodations  outside  of  the  main  building  was 
and  even  is  to-day  generally  adhered  to,  this  being  a 
lesson  early  taught  by  the  climate  and  the  nature  of  the 
servant  class.  Xo  experimenter,  imitating  dwellings 
and  customs  of  other  cities,  where  the  lots  are  small  and 
cramped,  has  failed  to  regret  thus  ignoring  the  lessons 
handed  down  by  generations  of  dwellers  of  English 
traditions  in  a  semi-tropical  climate. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  will  now  notice  certain 
houses  on  the  East  Battery,  differing  much  from  each 
other,  and  yet  curiously  alike  in  obedience  to  the  gen- 
eral law  governing  the  Charleston  architectural  devel- 
opment. The  climate  demands  that  the  walls  of  the 
house  be  protected  as  far  as  possible  from  the  baking 
rays  of  the  sun,  and  that  the  rooms  should  be  large  and 
lofty,  each  with  doors  and  windows  on  at  least  two  sides 
for  a  free  passage  of  air. 

179 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 


Since  1838  the  Charles  Alston  family  has  owned  the 
house  huilt  by  ^Ir.  Charles  Kdnionston  some  years 
previously.  JNlr.  Alston  was  the  son  of  Col.  William 
Alston,  who  owned  for  many  years  the  Brewton-Alston- 
Pringle  house  on  King  Street.  This  large  three-story 
brick  house  is  set  somewhat  back  from  the  street  with  a 


-    Antrim  II   i'-ti^/l. 

EDMONSTON  HOUSE— LATER  THE  CHARLES  ALSTON  RESIDENCE 

low  wall  surmounted  by  a  wrought-iron  railing  or  fence, 
the  gates  being  also  of  wrought-iron.  The  house  has  a 
large  extension  at  the  back  and,  with  its  brick  outbuild- 
ings, presents  a  marked  appearance  of  solidity.  Look- 
ing at  it  from  the  High  Battery  the  roof  is  partly  hidden 
by  a  parapet,  which  bears  on  it  the  Alston  coat-of-arms. 
The  wide  piazzas  to  the  south  add  even  greater 
width  to  the  house.  The  entrance  is  into  a  large  hall  on 
the  north,  and  from  this  you  pass  through  an  arch  into 

180 


WHITE  POINT  AND  EAST  AND  SOUTH  BATTERIES 

the  wide  staircase-hall  which  runs  through  from  north  to 
south,  where  it  has  a  door  on  the  lower  piazza.  The 
squarely-built  staircase  with  its  wide  window  leads  to  the 
drawing-rooms  on  the  second  floor,  which  are  en  suite 
with  large  folding  doors  and  include  the  width  of  the 
central  hall,  as  a  connecting  third  room.  Over  the  en- 
trance hall  is  a  pretty  room  used  as  a  library  with  a 
door  also  opening  into  the  east  drawing-room.  The 
advantage  of  such  a  plan  for  coolness  as  well  as  beauty 
is  obvious,  and  the  simple  spaciousness  gives  an  air  of 
quiet  dignity  and  comfort.  In  writing  of  very  many 
of  the  houses  built  in  Charleston  between  1750  and  1860, 
it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  constant  repetition  of  this 
sentence. 

The  level  of  the  street  in  front  of  these  East  Battery 
houses  has  been  gradually  but  considerably  raised.  This 
is  not  altogether  an  advantage,  for  the  great  equinoctial 
cyclones  drive  a  heavy  sea  over  the  wall  and  the  water 
is  piled  up  in  the  raised  street  and  forces  its  way  into 
the  lower  floors  of  adjacent  houses.  Several  times  has 
even  the  well-braced  iron  fence  before  the  Alston  house 
been  overturned.  This  and  the  neighboring  houses  have 
then  had  strange  visitors,  for  the  street  doors  have  been 
beaten  in,  and  in  one  case  a  Spanish-bayonet  tree,  in 
others  long  beams,  have  been  stranded  in  the  halls. 

Next  south  of  the  Alston  residence  stood  for  many 
years  the  Holmes  house,  built  also  upon  a  part  of  the 
site  of  Fort  ^Mechanic.  Unhappily  this  has  been  very 
recently  pulled  down,  for  it  was  built  on  a  plan  of  its 
own,  and  tradition  tells  us  that  the  entire  work  was  done 

181 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

by  j\Ir.  Holmes'  own  mechanics  brought  down  from  his 
plantation  on  Cooper  River. 

Next  to  it  Mr.  William  Ravenel  finished,  about  1845, 
his  striking  house.  He  faced  the  problem  of  putting  a 
very  large  house  on  a  very  narrow  lot,  and  did  it  cleverly. 


WILLIAM  RAVENELS  HOUSE 
From  a  Photograph  taken  before  the  Earthquake 

The  entire  front  of  the  lot  was  filled  by  a  Greek  portico. 
Four  large  columns  sprung  from  arches  which  were  as 
high  as  the  first  story,  while  the  columns  were  of  the 
height  of  the  second  and  third  stories,  and  supported  the 
roof. 

A  long  hall  leads  from  the  street  door  to  the  staircase- 
hall  in  the  middle  of  the  house,  ha^^ng  to  the  north  two 
rather  narrow  rooms  with  a  folding  door  between  them, 

182 


WHITE  POINT  AND  EAST  AND  SOUTH  BATTERIES 

and  to  the  south  a  glass  partition  separating  it  from  the 
carriage  entrance,  running  under  the  drawing-room.  At 
the  end  of  this  long  hall,  to  the  right  is  the  staircase 
and  immediately  in  front  is  the  door  of  the  large  dining- 
room. 

The  drawing-room  is  the  full  width  of  the  front  and 
has  two  card-rooms  opening  off  of  it.     This  drawing- 


WILLIAM  RAVENEL  HOUSE 

From  a  Photograph  taken  just  after  the  Earthquake  of  1886 

room  is  the  largest,  perhaps,  in  the  town,  with  a  fireplace 
at  each  end.  The  back  of  the  house  is  a  long  extension 
with  piazzas.  The  earthquake  of  1886  damaged  this 
house  terribly,  and  brought  down  the  great  columns, 
which  have  never  been  replaced.  Their  very  noticeable 
absence  brings  up  constantly  the  story  of  the  earthquake 
in  explanation. 

Tlie  handsome  house  next  south  of  it,  belonging  to 
Mrs.  Sieghng,  was  built  by  Mr.  William  Roper  some 
years  later,  and  the  large  Ionic  columns,  supporting  the 

183 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

roof  of  the  piazza,  escaped  injury  from  the  earthquake, 
but  its  next  neighbor  to  the  south,  built  by  Mr.  John 
Ravenel,  was  ahnost  destroyed.  This  last  had  long  been 
the  residence  of  Mr.  Ravenel's  son,  the  noted  chemist, 
Dr.  St.  Julien  Ravenel,  whose  brother-in-law,  JNIr.  Horry 
Frost,  restored,  or  rather,  practically  rebuilt  it,  and  it  is 
now  the  home  of  his  daughter,  ]Mrs.  Wilmot  Porcher. 

When  Charleston  was  evacuated  in  February,  1865, 
Major  Bertody,  of  a  Georgia  regiment,  was  ordered  to 
destroy  a  large  gun  mounted  at  the  corner  of  East  Bat- 
tery and  South  Battery.  Tliis  was  of  English  make 
and  said  to  have  been  the  largest  owned  by  the  Con- 
federacy. Bertody,  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  War,  did 
his  work  thoroughly,  and  in  doing  it,  badly  shattered 
Mr.  Louis  de  Saussure's  house  on  the  corner.  A  frag- 
ment of  the  gun,  it  is  said,  was  thrown  upon  the  roof, 
and  lodged  in  the  upper  part  of  the  house,  where  it  was 
found  when  it  was  repaired.  The  old  Major,  many 
years  after  the  war,  visited  West  Point  in  the  company 
of  a  friend  who  was  of  high  rank  in  the  U.  S.  Army. 
There  he  was  shown  and  recognized  with  mingled  feel- 
ings the  remains  of  this  old  gun,  his  victim.  The  house 
was  a  new  one  at  the  time  of  the  war,  having  been  built 
between  1850  and  1860.  It  is  now  the  residence  of 
Mt.  Frank  O'Neill. 


SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING 

STREET 


CHAPTER  IX 

SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING 

STREET 

1^  T  the  west  corner  of  Church  Street  and  South 
/\  Bay  we  come  to  a  house  that  is,  relatively  to  its 
I  \  neighbors,  an  old  one.  When  Baylor's  3rd  Con- 
tinental Dragoons  marched  to  join  the  Southern  Army 
it  left  its  Colonel  a  prisoner,  he  having  been  captured  at 
Tappan  in  1778.  But,  under  the  command  of  Lieut.-Col. 
William  Augustine  Washington,  this  famous  regiment, 
with  its  more  famous  commander,  struck  its  first  blow 
against  the  equally  noted  British  cavalry  leader,  Tarle- 
ton,  near  Rantowles,  early  in  1780.  This  action  was 
fought  in  the  close  neighborhood  of  "  Sandy  Hill,"  the 
home  of  Mr.  Charles  Elliott,  whose  daughter  and  heiress 
married  the  victor,  on  April  21,  1782.  A  most  inter- 
esting account  is  given  by  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault- 
Liancourt  of  the  life  led  in  1796  at  this  plantation  by 
his  host  and  hostess,  Colonel  and  INIrs.  Washington. 

In  the  rapid  military  vicissitudes  of  the  struggle  in 
the  Carolinas  in  1780  and  1781,  Washington  steadily 
increased  his  fame,  until,  at  the  Battle  of  Eutaw,  Sep- 
tember 8,  1781,  his  regiment  was  cut  to  pieces,  and  he 
was  wounded  and  captured,  remaining  a  prisoner  until 
the  close  of  the  war. 

Charles  Town  was  evacuated  by  the  British  in  De- 
cember, 1782,  and  on  December  27,  1785,  Washington 
bought  from  Mrs.  Mary  Elliott  Savage  this  residence, 
which  is  still  pointed  out  as  his.     The  house  is  said  to 

187 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 


have  been  built  by  Thomas  Savage  soon  after  1768,  in 
whicli  year  he  bought  the  lot  from  James  Brisbane. 

It  is  described  in  the  deed  to  Washington  as  standing 
on  land  formerly  of  Garret  Van  Velsen.  The  consid- 
eration named  in  the  deed  is  £4460  sterling,  which 
indicates  that  the  house  was  then  standing. 


11-  ^^ 


AKHS_ 


HOUSE  OF  GENERAL  WILLIAM  WASHINGTON,  BUILT  BEFORE  1786 
Now  the  Residence  of  Mrs.  Dowic 

Washington  was  commissioned  Brigadier  General 
in  the  United  States  Army  in  1798.  He  died  on  the 
sixth  day  of  March,  1810.  At  the  death  of  INIrs.  Wash- 
ington, in  1830,  and  the  expiration  of  her  life  estate, 
the  house  passed  to  her  daughter  Jane,  the  wife  of  Mr. 
James  H.  Ancrum,  who  bought  from  the  City  and  added 
to  the  lot,  a  strip  twenty  feet  wide  on  Church  Street, 
and  a  hundred  feet  on  Fort  Street,  which  was  then 

188 


SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING 

straightened  into  South  Bay.  This  was  part  of  the  "  way 
thirty  feet  wide  reserved  by  Act  of  Assembly  as  a  public 
passage."  The  purchase  included  an  irregular  piece  of 
low  ground  to  the  west,  much  enlarging  the  garden. 


/<.H-Sn,ifA. 


J 


GATE  OF  WASHINGTON  HOUSE 


About  the  same  time  Mr.  Henry  Gourdin  bought  the 
low  ground  to  the  west  of  it  in  front  of  his  house  along 
Meeting  Street  down  to  the  new  line  of  South  Bay. 
The  entrance  to  the  Washington  house  has  been 

189 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

changed,  and  must  have  been  originally  on  Church  Street, 
for  we  find  in  the  Elliott-Rowand  Bible  (see  South 
Carolina  Historical  and  Genealogical  Magazine,  vol.  xi, 
p.  66)  the  record  of  a  birth  in  this  house,  which  is  stated 
to  have  taken  place  "  in  Church  Street." 

The  square  wooden  house  stands  on  a  brick  basement, 
and  is  one  of  the  "  double-houses  "  of  the  period.  The 
drawing-room  is  large  and  the  rooms  are  panelled  and 
well  finished.  An  examination  of  the  garret  with  its 
heavy  beams  and  timbers  shows  how  well  it  was  built. 
The  change  of  entrance  has  fortunately  not  taken  away 
the  character  of  the  house.  Instead  of  entering  on  the 
eastern  piazza  overlooking  Church  Street,  a  flight  of 
white  steps  leads  into  a  rather  wider  one  on  the  west. 
This  house  was  long  the  home  of  JNIrs.  Robert  B.  Dowie, 
and  has  lately  passed  to  Mr.  Julian  Mitchell. 

Of  the  residences  on  South  Battery  between  JNIeet- 
ing  and  King  Streets  one  is  believed  to  be  over  a  century 
old.  This  is  now  the  residence  of  ]Mr.  S.  E.  Welch,  but 
is  still  known  as  the  "  old  Ashe  house."  It  stands  on 
Lot  No.  45  of  the  "  Grand  Model,"  which  was  granted 
June  18, 1694,  to  Francis  Fidling.  It  was  held  by  three 
of  the  name  until,  in  1713,  it  was  sold  to  Captain  Arthur 
Hall,  then  and  for  some  time  after  a  member  of  the 
Commons  House,  for  in  1717  we  find  him  signing  an 
address  to  His  Majesty,  requesting  his  protection  for 
the  Province.  (See  McCrady's  "  Proprietary  Govern- 
ment," p.  570.)  The  Province  was  then  still  in  the 
throes  of  the  Yamassee  War,  and  was  complaining  bit- 
terly of  the  neglect  of  the  Lords  Proprietors.    It  was  this 

190 


SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING 

discontent  that  led  later  to  the  Revolution  of  1719,  when 
the  Province  threw  off  the  control  of  their  Lords. 

Colonel  Hall's  children  sold  the  lot  to  William  Bran- 
ford,  who  held  it  until  1754.  This  Mr.  Branford  it  was 
who  built  the  house  at  the  corner  of  Tradd  and  Meeting 
Streets,  already  described.  After  passing  through  sev- 
eral hands  we  find  it  in  1825  in  the  possession  of  Col.  John 
Ashe,  who  owned  a  number  of  lots  on  South  Bay,  from 
King  Street  eastward.  He  left  his  "  mansion  house  on 
South  Bay  where  I  now  reside  "  to  his  son,  Richard  Coch- 
ran Ashe,  and  a  lot  on  each  side  of  it  to  a  daughter.  The 
corner  lot  was  given  to  his  daughter  Mary,  who  had 
married  Capt.  Christopher  Gadsden  of  the  United  States 
Nav}^  son  of  Capt.  Thomas  Gadsden,  of  the  South 
Carolina  Continental  Line,  and  a  grandson  of  Gen. 
Christopher  Gadsden,  a  leader  in  the  Revolution.  This 
house,  once  Mrs.  Gadsden's,  has  recently  (1916)  been 
sold  by  Miss  Charlotte  R.  Holmes  to  Mr.  J.  C.  Clark. 

Colonel  Ashe's  son,  John  Algernon  Sydney  Ashe, 
built  for  himself,  upon  the  lot  given  to  him  by  his  father, 
to  the  east  of  those  just  mentioned,  the  house  now  (1916) 
owned  by  Mr.  W.  Branford  Frost.  In  its  architecture  it 
stands  alone  in  Charleston.  This  son,  also  called  Colonel 
Ashe,  was  an  unmarried  man,  and  built  an  ideal  resi- 
dence for  a  bachelor.  It  is  of  two  stories.  The  eastern 
half  appears  rectangular  on  the  outside,  while  west  of 
the  entrance  it  is  rounded,  with  piazzas  following  the 
curve.  Within  the  house  there  seem  to  be  no  corners, 
those  being  replaced  by  curved  walls.  At  the  back  of 
the  hall  a  curved  staircase  leads  to  the  upper  story. 

191 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

The  Ash  or  Ashe  family  settled  at  an  early  date  in 
Carolina,  where  John  Ash,  in  1704,  was  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  dissenting  party,  which  so  violently  op- 
posed the  establishment  of  the  Church  of  England  as  the 
State  Church  of  the  Province.  He  was  sent  to  London 
by  this  party  to  protest  to  the  Lords  Proprietors,  and 
died  there.  His  will,  recorded  both  in  Charles  Town 
and  London,  is  curious,  in  that  it  gives  to  certain  chil- 
dren the  product  of  certain  Tallies,  "  payable  out  of  the 
Exchequer  "  in  the  hands  of  Sir  William  Simpson.  The 
advowson  of  Colley  Vicarage  in  Devonshire  he  leaves 
to  one  of  his  sons.  His  descendants  have  been  prominent 
both  in  South  Carolina  and  North  Carolina. 

Nearly  opposite  to  Col.  Ashe's  house,  west  of  King 
Street,  stands  in  a  prominent  position  an  old  house,  the 
residence  of  JNIr.  Henry  T.  Williams.  This  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  mixture  of  simplicity  and  good  finish  to 
be  found  in  so  many  of  the  smaller  houses  of  its  date. 

Two  other  houses  on  this  part  of  South  Bay  are 
noticeable.  One,  belonging  to  Mr.  Ernest  H.  Pringle, 
Jr.,  is  large  and  striking,  but  has  been  altered  in 
recent  years  beyond  recognition  and  therefore  does  not 
fall  within  our  scheme.  The  other  belongs  to  ]Miss  Ross, 
and  was  built  by  INIr.  George  Robertson  between  1846 
and  1850.  It  stands  at  the  corner  of  IMeeting  Street 
and  attracts  attention  by  its  massiveness  and  its  piazzas. 
The  house  replaced  by  it  was  burned,  while  owned  by 
Mr.  Joseph  Allen  Smith.  A  touch  of  interest  is  given 
when  we  trace  in  the  chain  of  title  that  Josiah  Smith 
sold  the  eastern  half  of  the  present  lot  in  1771  to  Col. 
Isaac  Hayne,  whose  tragic  death  at  the  hands  of  Corn- 

192 


13 


SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING 

wallis  and  Balfour  marked  an  epoch  in  the  Revolution. 
This  deed  was  not  only  tragic  but  futile,  for  the  British 
cause  gained  nothing  by  an  execution  which  created 
exasperation,  not  terror,  among  their  enemies.  The 
other  part  of  the  lot  was  sold  to  Major  de  Brahm.  Col. 
William  Washington  bought  Hayne's  part  from  his 
executors  and  the  half  of  de  Brahm's  from  the  Com- 
missioners of  Confiscated  Estates,  but  soon  sold  them 
to  that  Ralph  Izard,  Sr.,  whose  quarrels  with  Franklin 
loom  large  in  Revolutionary  diplomatic  history.  Mr. 
Izard  and  ]\Iajor  Pierce  Butler  sat  as  Senators  from 
South  Carohna  in  the  first  U.  S.  Congress.  When 
Mr.  Izard  bought  from  de  Brahm  himself,  in  1791,  the 
western  half  of  the  latter's  lot,  this  was  bounded  to  the 
west  by  land  of  his  senatorial  colleague,  Butler,  who 
had  become  possessed  of  the  lot  sold  in  1771  by  Smith  to 
Dr.  David  Oliphant,  also  a  leading  Revolutionary  per- 
sonage. Dr.  Oliphant  served  in  the  Council  of  Safety 
and  was  continuously  in  the  political  service  of  the  State 
in  one  or  another  capacity  until  the  end  of  the  war,  hold- 
ing also  high  rank  in  the  Continental  ^Medical  Service. 
His  descendant,  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  is  to-day  Presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

The  dry  research  into  a  land  title  becomes  full  of 
life  and  interest  when  a  group  of  such  noted  historical 
names  appear,  almost  simultaneously,  in  connection  with 
a  small  spot  of  ground.  The  question  of  the  metes  and 
bounds  of  the  land  is  suddenly  merged  into  history,  and 
history  is  chiefly  interesting  when  it  is  personal. 

The  lot  north  of  Miss  Ross's  house,  just  noted  at  the 
corner  of  ^Meeting  Street  and  South  Batterj^  belongs 

195 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

to-day  (1916)  to  the  Charleston  Clul).  It  was  pur- 
chased from  Josiah  Smith  in  1800  by  ]Mr.  Wilson  Glover, 
who  built  upon  it  the  present  club  house.  From  Glover 
it  passed  to  his  dau*^hter,  Mrs.  .lohn  IIu<rer,  whose  hus- 
l)an(l  sold  it  to  Miss  Martha  Prioleau,  and  she  owned  it 
until  her  death  at  a  very  advanced  age.  In  this  house 
she  received,  in  1871,  a  visit  from  the  great-granddaugh- 
ter of  her  nephew,  Daniel  Ravenel,  with  the  intermediate 
family  links  still  living. 

Next  north  of  the  club  house  is  the  large  house  built 
by  Mr.  Wm.  C.  Courtney  between  1 8.50  and  1 8G0.  This 
occupies  the  two  middle  parts  of  Lot  No.  117  in  the  old 
"  ]\lodell/'  which  had  been  enlarged  at  the  back  by  a 
piece  of  Smith's  reclaimed  marsh. 

Lot  141,  just  north  of  which  runs  Smith's  Lane  (now 
East  Lamboll),  had  been  granted,  with  Lot  142  just 
north  of  it,  to  Capt.  Charles  Clark.  At  some  date  before 
1740  this  lot  (No.  142)  and  the  one  west  had  belonged 
to  John  Rivers,  who  opened  on  their  south  edge  a  lane 
or  passage  sixteen  feet  wide,  which  he  called  Rivers 
Street,  to  "  the  little  street  tliat  runs  from  Ashley  River 
to  John  Jones."  Shades  of  the  mighty!  This  "  little 
street"  is  King  Street  in  its  beginning!  Alas,  poor 
Rivers!  His  "  })rivate  street  1  laid  out"  was  soon 
known  as  Smith's  Lane,  when  it  was  not  called  Dyd- 
cott's  (Dedcott's)  Alley;  and  a  City  Council,  careless 
of  its  history,  has  recently  added  it  to  Lamboll  Street, 
which  itself  began  life  as  "  Kincaid." 

John  Kdwards  was  a  member  of  Rutledge's  Privy 
Council  in  1779,  and  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  the 
previous  Revolutionary  incidents.     It  was  not  surpris- 

196 


M\\^ 


SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING 

ing,  therefore,  that  he  suffered  in  person  and  property 
at  the  fall  of  Charles  Town  in  1780,  when  his  possessions 
were  sequestrated  by  the  British  and  he  was  imj^risoned 
and  shared  with  Gadsden  and  more  than  sixty  leading 
men  their  exile  at  St.  Augustine.  He  built  his  house 
on  Meeting  Street  just  above  the  Courtney,  now  Dr. 
Maybank's  house,  and  is  said  to  have  finished  and  moved 
into  it  in  1770. 

After  the  surrender  of  Charles  Town  in  1780,  we 
learn  from  Major  Garden  ("  Anecdotes  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,"  printed  by  A.  E.  ^Miller,  1822),  that  the 
commander  of  the  British  fleet,  Admiral  Arbuthnot, 
was  quartered  here.  Other  interesting  traditions  linger 
around  it.  We  are  told  that  in  this  house  the  family  of 
the  Comte  de  Grasse  was  received  by  Mr.  John  B. 
Holmes,  stepson  and  son-in-law  of  John  Edwards, 
when  the  unhappy  planters  of  St.  Domingo  fled  in 
numbers  to  this  place  in  1793.  In  the  churchyard  of 
St.  jNIary's  on  Hasell  Street  are  the  graves  of  several 
of  this  de  Grasse  family. 

Mr.  Edwards  appears  to  have  owned  the  whole  of 
Lot  141  and  the  north  part  of  Lot  117  also,  giving  a 
frontage  on  Meeting  Street  of  160^  feet  and  a  depth 
of  233  feet  or  more.  Xear  the  middle  of  the  frontage 
was  his  house,  built  of  cypress  on  a  brick  basement,  with 
this  peculiarity  that  the  weather-boarding  of  the  front 
is  cut  to  look  like  blocks  of  stone,  and  the  brick  base- 
ment is  treated  in  the  same  manner.  The  ascent  to 
the  portico  north  and  south  is  by  a  double  flight  of 
stone  steps,  each  broken  by  a  landing,  and  its  roof  is 
supported  by  two  Corinthian  columns  and  by  pilasters 
against  the  wall.     The  hall,  broken  by  an  arch,  runs 

19!) 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

through  the  middle  of  the  house  to  the  staircase  at  the 
back,  and  on  either  side  are  two  rooms.  The  drawing- 
rooms  were  on  the  second  floor,  a  larger  and  a  smaller 
room  extending  across  the  whole  front  of  the  house. 

The  house  in  its  general  plan  does  not  differ  ma- 
terially from  the  usual  double-house  of  its  day,  but  its 
panelling  and  finish  place  it  in  the  front  rank.  The  very 
large  semicircular  piazzas  to  the  south  have  been  re- 
cently added  by  its  present  owner,  ^Ir.  George  W. 
Williams,  who  has  also  largely  improved  the  grounds  to 
the  south  by  raising  the  front  half  to  the  level  of  the 
street,  from  which  they  are  separated  by  an  iron  railing 
or  fence,  thus  affording  the  passer-by  a  view  of  the  large 
green  lawn. 

In  1844  this  house  was  sold  by  the  Edwards  family 
to  Henry  W.  Conner,  long  President  of  the  Bank  of 
Charleston,  which,  in  those  days,  was  one  of  the  great 
banks  of  the  country,  with  a  proud  history.  A  son  of 
JNIr.  Conner  was  the  late  Brig.-Gen.  James  Conner,  of 
the  Confederate  Army.  Distinguished  as  a  soldier.  Gen- 
eral Conner  was  even  more  noted  when  South  Carolina 
was  struggling  for  existence  in  the  dark  days  of  "  Re- 
construction," which  ended  when  Hampton,  in  1876, 
became  the  Governor,  with  Conner  as  his  Attorney 
General. 

Opposite  to  these  houses  there  are  on  the  east  side  of 
INIeeting  Street  several  that  are  noticeable.  The  large 
house  built  by  INIr.  George  W.  Williams,  Sr.,  is  entirely 
modern,  but  to  the  south  of  it  are  three  old  houses  each  of 
a  different  style.  The  original  type  of  each,  however, 
has  been  altered  by  various  additions.  We  cannot  give 
the  history  in  detail  of  Dr.  Edward  F.  Parker's  house, 

200 


2:2 


/rr^z^ 


:r  W 


^) 


SOUTH  BATTERY  AND  LOWER  MEETING 

nor  of  that  of  jNIr.  Henry  Middleton,  but  the  southern- 
most of  the  three  has  been  long  the  residence  of  the 


MANTEL  IN  JOHN  EDWARDS'  HOUSE 


descendants  of  Major  Ladson,  of  the  Continental  Line 
of  the  Revolution.  North  of  this  group  is  the  house 
built  by  Mr.  Harry  Manigault,  which  is  an  admirable 

203 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

specimen  of  the  more  imposing  single-house  so  much 
Hked  in  this  place.  This  was  long  the  residence  of  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Smyth,  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church. 

A  little  distance  above,  and  after  crossing  Atlantic 
Street,  is  the  house  of  Hon.  Henry  A.  M.  Smith.   This 
house  was  built  about  1820  by  William  INIason  Smith, 
a  son  of  the  first  Bishop  of  South  Carolina,  and  a  grand- 
uncle  of  the  present  owner,  and  had  certain  architectural 
features  not  previously  seen  here.     It  is  on  a  high  foun- 
dation and  the  street  door  is  reached  by  a  broad  flight  of 
stone  steps;  this  is  at  the  north  end  of  the  front  and 
opens  into  a  hall,  on  the  left  of  which  rises,  to  the  third 
story,  a  circular  staircase  in  a  projection  of  the  wall. 
This  staircase  originally  had  a  domed  roof,  but  a  later 
owner  in  enlarging  the  house  found  it  convenient  to  con- 
tinue to  the  east  the  line  of  the  projection,  and  to  bring 
the  roof  of  the  addition  over  the  dome.     The  earthquake 
of  1886  threw  down  the  new  part  of  the  wall,  when  the 
domed  roof  showed  itself  intact.     Extensive  additions 
have  been  made  at  the  back,  but  the  interior  of  the 
older  part  remains  practically  unchanged.     The  rooms 
on  each  of  the  two  lower  floors  open  into  each  other  with 
large  folding  doors.     The  back  rooms   are   decidedly 
larger,  in  order,  probably,  to  make  the  dining-room  a 
spacious  one.      The  drawing-rooms  are  on  the  second 
floor.     The  house  was  very  well  built,  as  shown  by  the 
fact  that,  when  it  was  deserted  during  the  long  bombard- 
ment in  the  years  1863-1865,  the  lead  in  the  valleys 
of  the  roof  was  stolen,  and,  though  for  many  months 
the  house  was  partially  flooded  with  every  rain,  the 
ceilings  and  walls  remained  sound. 


SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD 
STREETS 


CHAPTER  X 

SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD 
STREETS 

THE  South  Bay  Lots  from  King  Street  west- 
ward were  also  largely  reclaimed  land.  A 
strip  of  land  there  originally  lay  between  the 
low  water  lots  of  the  Ashley,  and  the  broad  marsh  on  the 
banks  of  a  creek  which  appears  to  have  been  early  called 
Oldys'  Creek,  and  later,  sometimes,  the  south  branch  of 
Conseillere's  Creek.  There  is  record  authority  for  any 
and  every  wild  spelling  of  the  name  "  de  la  Conseillere." 
This  marsh  and  creek  ran  eastwardly,  parallel  to  the 
river,  and  occupied  the  greater  part  of  the  lots  on  what 
is  now  called  Lamboll  Street,  as  well  as  those  on  Gibbes 
Street.  The  southern  corner  of  the  Brewton  lot  on 
Legare  Street  was  encroached  upon  by  this  marsh,  and 
this  is  now  the  site  of  the  home  built  by  Col.  Cleland  K. 
Huger  between  1857  and  1860. 

The  water  lots  south  of  South  Bay  Street^  were 
gradually  filled  in  later,  but  a  number  of  conveyances 
between  1770  and  1775  assist  in  giving  an  approximate 
date  to  the  walling  in  and  filling  up  of  the  inner  marsh. 
Four  men  combined  to  do  this  work,  viz.:  Robert 
Mackenzie,  Edward  Blake,  George  Kincaid,  and 
William  Gibbes.  Under  date  of  March  9,  1770,  we 
find  an  award  making  Brewton's  south  wall,  lately  built, 
the  line  between  him  and  these  four  as  tenants  in  com- 

207 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

mon.  Whenever  begun,  the  work  must  have  been  prac- 
tically completed  by  September,  1772,  for  then  a  com- 
prehensive conveyance  was  made  by  these  as  tenants  in 
common  to  Samuel  Legare,  with  an  explanatory  plat. 

This  conveyance  carried  a  large  area:  1st,  9  acres 
of  low-water  land,  fronting  lots  283  and  284-,  running 
660  feet  to  low- water  mark;  2nd,  three-quarters  of  an 
acre  of  marsh  land  just  north  of  Lot  283  with  Legare 
Street  to  the  west;  3rd,  Lots  283  and  284  granted  in 
1694  to  Thomas  Bolton;  4th,  Lot  Xo.  78  (sic)  ;  5th,  an 
eighth  of  an  acre  of  marsh  land  near  the  three-quarters 
of  an  acre  above  mentioned ;  6th,  four  acres  of  low- water 
land  between  Lots  22  and  23  and  the  river,  which  were 
bounded  east  by  Lamboll's  low-water  lot  at  the  foot  of 
King  Street;  7th,  part  of  Lot  133,  which  lay  west  of 
Legare  Street,  and  was  bounded  north  and  west  by  Wm. 
Gibbes.  These  have  been  here  listed  to  show  the  extent 
of  the  improvement.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Johnson's 
Street  changed  its  name  to  Legare. 

A  nearly  simultaneous  reconveyance  from  Legare 
to  Edward  Blake  covers  all  the  land  on  the  west  side  of 
Legare  Street  from  Gibbes  Street  to  South  Bay,  with 
the  west  line  on  William  Gibbes,  and  this  includes  all 
the  present  lots  between  the  Sloan  house  of  to-day  and 
Legare  Street.  A  similar  deed  conveys  to  Gibbes  part 
of  the  "  lands  lately  walled  and  filled  in  jointly  by 
Robert  Mackenzie,  Edward  Blake,  George  Kincaid,  and 
said  William  Gibbes."  The  south  boundary  is  given  as 
south  on  said  south  wall  fronting  on  Ashley  River,  135 
feet  on  said  wall  and  on  South  Bay  Street  138}4  feet. 

208 


SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD  STREETS 

This  second  conveyance  undoubtedly  covers  the  land  on 
which  the  Sloan  house  now  (1916)  stands.  Both  Blake 
and  Gibbes  are  believed  to  have  built  soon  after  on  the 
land  thus  conveyed. 

Blake  took  a  leading  part  in  the  Revolution.  Among 
many  other  services  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Naval 
Board,  which  reminds  us  to  add  that  the  history  of  the 
naval  warfare  of  South  Carolina  during  the  Revolution 
is  yet  to  be  written  comprehensivel3\ 

Blake  built  his  own  house  on  the  west  side  of  Legare 
Street,  north  of  the  corner  lot,  which  last  he  gave  to  his 
son,  John  Blake.  Legare  conveyed  as  above  to  Gibbes 
in  1772,  and,  Gibbes  dying  in  1789,  the  premises  were 
conveyed  to  ^Irs.  Sarah  Smith  in  1794  for  a  consideration 
of  <£2500,  which  price  seems  to  confirm  the  tradition 
that  the  house  had  been  built  by  Gibbes,  and  probably 
before  the  Revolution.  A  comparison  in  values  is  shown 
by  the  consideration,  say  $10,000,  named  when,  in  1826, 
it  was  sold  to  her  grandson,  Thomas  Smith  Grimke,  as 
the  property  of  the  estate  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Smith.  Through 
the  intervening  period  it  is  frequently  spoken  of  as  the 
residence  of  Mr.  Peter  Smith,  who,  however,  does  not 
seem  to  have  held  the  fee. 

^Irs.  Sarah  Smith  deserves  more  than  passing  men- 
tion, for  she  was  the  daughter  of  Roger  ]Moore  by  his 
marriage  to  Catharine  Rhett  and  thus  combined  de- 
scents from  James  Moore  (Governor,  1700-1702)  and 
from  Col.  William  Rhett,  the  captor  of  Stede  Bonnet, 
the  pirate.  Her  husband,  Thomas  Smith,  of  a  well- 
known  stem,  was  also  descended  in  the  female  line  from 

14  209 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Thomas  Smith,  Landgrave  and  Governor.  Her  son, 
Peter  Smith,  whose  name  seems  to  have  heen  long  iden- 
tified with  the  house,  married  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Henry 
^Nliddleton,  sometime  President  of  the  Continental 
Congress. 

Tliomas  Smith  Grimke  was  an  eminent  lawyer,  the 
son  of  Col.  John  Faucheraud  Grimke,  of  the  Continen- 
tal Line,  sometime  Adjutant  General  of  the  Southern 
Army  of  the  Revolution,  and  later  a  judge  in  South 
Carolina.  For  many  years  past  the  house  has  been 
owned  by  Col.  J.  B.  E.  Sloan,  late  of  the  Confederate 
Anny,  and  is  now  occupied  by  his  family. 

There  has  been  a  double  interest  in  tracing  out  the 
development  of  this  portion  of  the  town,  paralleling  as 
it  did  the  work  of  Josiah  Smith,  a  square  to  the  east  of 
it;  for  a  most  interesting  part  of  the  older  residence 
section  of  the  town  owes  its  very  existence  to  these  two 
enterprises.  This  work  of  stopping  up  creeks  and  filling 
low  grounds  seems  to  have  commenced  in  the  earliest 
days,  and  to  have  continued  steadih\  In  searching  back 
into  the  history  of  some  old  house  in  the  heart  of  the 
town,  whose  site  looks  as  if  it  had  emerged  from  the 
water  many  thousand  years  ago  with  the  subsidence  of 
the  ocean,  we  are  surprised  to  find  that  within  recorded 
history  it  was  the  bed  of  a  creek,  or  a  marsh,  or  a  nmd 
flat.  With  available  land  for  building  stretching  end- 
lessly into  the  country  what  economic  calculation  justi- 
fied such  expenditure  in  the  early  days! 

The  more  immediate  interest  has  been  to  trace  out 
the  date  and  history  of  this  Sloan  bouse,  the  appearance 


SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD  STREETS 

of  which  seems  to  demand  such  an  inquiry,  for  it  has 
been  frequently  used  as  a  fine  example  of  colonial  archi- 
tecture. Built  of  wood  upon  a  brick  basement  high 
enough  to  allow  of  good  rooms  within  it,  it  is  entered 
from  the  street  by  double  flights  of  wide  steps  meeting 
upon  a  broad  stone  platform.  The  hall,  on  which  the 
front  door  opens,  runs,  with  two  rooms  on  either  side, 
through  to  the  staircase  at  the  back,  and  is  very  wide.  It 
is  not  broken  by  an  arch,  as  are  so  many  of  its  date,  but 
the  ceiling  is  directly  supported  by  columns.  The  stair- 
case is  squarely  built  and  of  good  proportions.  The 
drawing-rooms  are  on  the  second  floor  across  the  front 
of  the  house,  and  the  ornamentation  of  the  woodwork  is 
fine  and  delicate. 

To  the  eye  of  a  stranger  Legare  Street  from  South 
Bay  to  Tradd  Street  is  most  interesting,  for  the  houses 
in  their  architectural  diversity,  together  with  their  well- 
kept  gardens  separating  house  from  house,  hold  the  eye, 
and  in  the  spring  and  early  summer  when  the  gardens 
and  trees  are  at  their  best,  clothe  the  whole  street  in 
shifting  green  and  varied  colors.  Below  Gibbes  Street, 
the  enterprise  of  INIessrs.  Gibbes,  Blake,  and  others, 
which  has  just  been  described,  opened  out  that  end  of 
the  street.  The  part  above  Gibbes  Street  to  Tradd  was 
anciently  called  Johnson  Street,  and  here  are  to  be  found 
occasional  older  houses  interspersed  among  the  more 
modern  ones. 

Some  of  these  cannot  be  passed  without  stopping 
for  more  than  a  glance.  The  residence  of  Mr.  J.  Adger 
Smyth,  sometime  Mayor  of  Charleston,  with  its  wide 

211 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

garden  and  iron  fence,  broad  gates  with  their  massive 
pillars,  graceful  piazza  with  semicircular  marble  steps 


STAIRCASE  IN  GEORGE  EDWARDS"  HOUSE 

into  the  street,  ornamented  with  very  handsome  iron- 
work, induces  at  once  questions  about  the  house.     The 


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Copyright,  1915,  by  Harper  k  Brotliers 

INNER  GARDEN  GATE  OF  GEORGE  EDWARDS'  HOUSE 


MANTEL  IN  GEORGK  I  l>\\  \i;i.-~    HOUSE 


SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD  STREETS 

gates  themselves  are  a  curious  and  attractive  combina- 
tion of  wood  and  iron.  The  capitals  of  the  brown  brick 
pillars  are  of  white  marble,  richly  carved  and  surmounted 
by  marble  pineapples.  The  house  owes  all  of  this  to  a 
former  owner  (1816-1835 ) ,  Mr.  George  Edwards,  whose 
initials  (G.  E.)  appear  in  the  iron-work,  one  on  either 
side  of  the  steps.  The  house  itself  is  a  fine  example  of 
the  colonial  single-house,  so  often  described,  with  south- 
ern piazzas  to  the  two  first  stories.  The  rooms  are 
large  with  high  ceilings  and  the  finish  is  pretty  and 
delicate. 

The  house  to  the  north  of  it,  the  residence  of  INIr. 
George  S.  Holmes,  also  an  old  single-house,  like  many 
early  houses  of  the  place,  is  simple  on  the  outside  and 
surprises  one  by  the  good  finish  of  the  interior. 

Just  across  the  street  is  the  gateway  of  a  long  private 
lane,  by  which  is  reached  another  handsome  gate,  open- 
ing on  the  garden  belonging  to  the  house  once  the  resi- 
dence of  Col.  Arthur  P.  Hayne.  Colonel  Hayne  was 
on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  when  he  fought 
the  extraordinary  Battle  of  Xew  Orleans,  in  which  was 
clearly  shown  the  superiority  of  a  thin  line  armed  with 
rifles  over  an  enemy  armed  with  smooth-bores  and  charg- 
ing in  column.  Yet  the  heavy  sporting  rifle  of  that 
day,  with  its  small  ball  and  efl'ective  range  not  much 
exceeding  a  hundred  yards,  seems  but  an  inefficient  fore- 
father of  the  modern  army  rifle.  A  recent  article  by 
Herbert  Ravenel  Sass  in  the  Atlantic  Montlily,  called 
"  Wild  Life  in  a  City  Garden,"  most  charmingly  de- 
scribes this  secluded  spot  and  its  bird-life — both  resi- 
dent and  immigrant. 

221 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

For  over  eighty  years  the  blisses  ^Nlurden,  succeeded 
by  their  nieces,  the  blisses  Sass,  have  educated  genera- 
tions of  the  young  ladies  of  Charleston,  and  for  fifty  of 
these  years  this  house  and  garden  have  been  endeared 
to  their  scholars.     ( See  Frontispiece  of  this  volume. ) 

Walking  up  the  street,  we  speculate  alternately  as 
to  the  dates  of  Mr.  Pringle's  large  wooden  house  (of 
old  the  residence  of  Mr.  Isaac  Parker)  and  Mr.  Young's 
much  older  house,  long  a  home  of  a  branch  of  the  huge 
Elliott  family  of  South  Carolina.  Also  we  look  with 
interest  at  the  two-storied  wooden  house  of  ^Irs.  Augus- 
tine Smythe,  in  its  beautiful  garden.  When  you  pass  the 
portals  of  this  quaint  old  house  you  are  impressed  by 
the  charming  way  in  which  it  has  been  adapted  of  more 
recent  years  to  the  demands  of  modern  life. 

The  very  modern  house  of  ^Ir.  Richard  Whaley,  at 
present  member  of  Congress,  imposing  with  its  portico 
and  columns,  marks  the  sharp  contrast  between  Charles- 
ton developments  of  the  old  English  styles  of  houses,  and 
the  styles  imported  here  since  the  Confederate  War. 
Another  example  of  modern  importation  can  be  seen  on 
South  Bay  in  the  residence  of  Mr.  Gordon  INIcCabe,  Jr. 
This  last  suggests  that  it  was  taken  bodily  from  some 
Northern  town. 

Next  north  of  Mr.  Whaley 's  the  long  brick  wall  with 
the  large  iron  gate  is,  perhaps,  especially  attractive  in 
what  it  does  not  let  one  fully  see,  giving  to  the  shaded 
garden  an  air  of  seclusion.  That  is  exactly  why  it  was 
built,  for  it  surrounds  the  ground  of  what  was  once  a 
famous  girls'  school.     The  mistress  thereof  was  INIadame 

i'ii 


SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD  STREETS 

Talvande,  one  of  those  who  escaped  massacre  in  St. 
Domingo.  There  still  lives  an  old  lady  who  was  a  pupil 
at  that  school  some  eighty  years  ago,  and  by  whom  some 
of  the  school  incidents  are  to-day  told  to  her  great-grand- 
children. An  elopement  is  believed  to  have  led  to  the 
building  of  the  wall,  yet  it  seems  strange  that  the  dame  d* 
ecole  should  have  thought  that  brick  and  mortar  could 
keep  apart  ardent  young  Carolinians.  Nevertheless, 
tradition  tells  of  but  one  elopement!  This  house  was 
long  the  home  of  Hon.  Charles  H.  Simonton,  United 
States  Circuit  Judge,  and  is  now  owned  by  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Faneuil  Alston. 

The  west  end  of  Tradd  Street  beyond  Legare  was 
not  developed  until  after  1760,  but  very  soon  after  that 
period  a  number  of  houses  of  the  better  style  were  built 
there. 

Benjamin  de  la  Conseillere  was  a  member  of  His 
Majesty's  Council  in  1721  and  an  Assistant  Justice  in 
1737.  He  acquired  by  purchase  sundry  lots,  Xos.  95, 
96,  245,  246  and  somewhat  over  six  acres  of  marsh-land 
lying  to  the  south  and  west  thereof,  between  two  creeks 
entering  the  Ashley  near  together.  One  or  another  of 
these  had  previously  been  called  Oldys'  Creek  and  the 
western  one  Holdring's  Creek,  but  as  he  acquired  the 
land  de  la  Conseillere  imposed  his  own  name  on  both. 
The  west  branch  or  creek  gave  name  eventually  to 
Council  Street,  which  does  not  seem  to  be  a  more  violent 
change  of  name  than  that  which  turned  Vanderhorst 
Creek,  in  Christ  Church  Parish,  into  the  "  Wanross  "  of 
the  United  States  Charts  of  to-day. 

223 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Sometime  after  de  la  Conseillere's  death,  say  in  1754, 
this  entire  bod\^  of  land  was  sold  to  Thomas  Shubrick, 
who,  quite  in  the  style  of  his  day  and  of  ours,  had  it  re- 
surveyed  and  divided  into  parcels  for  sale.  There  were 
seven  of  these,  of  which  No.  1  became  the  property,  in 
1762,  of  Humphrey  Sommers,  who  two  years  later  sold 
same  to  William  Williamson,  later  a  member  of  the 
Council  of  Safety,  who  is  also  noted,  as  Ramsay  tells 
us,  for  the  creation,  on  his  plantation  at  Rantowles,  of 
a  garden  as  famous  then  as  the  "  JNIagnolia  "  or  the 
"  Middleton  Place  "  gardens  of  to-day.  Williamson 
died  without  issue,  but  he  left  two  half-sisters  named 
Grimke,  one  of  whom  married  Dictator  John  Rutledge 
and  the  other  Alexander  Fraser.  The  latter  sister  be- 
came the  owner  of  this  Tradd  Street  lot,  and  gave  it  to 
her  daughter  JNIary,  who  had  married  Mr.  Joseph  Win- 
throp,  of  the  well-known  family  of  New  England.  One 
or  another  of  this  Winthrop  family  has  resided  in  it  for 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years. 

The  next  parcel  (No.  2)  in  1762  was  sold  to  Rawlins 
Lowndes  "  together  with  the  capitol  mansion  thereon 
standing."  Whether  he  ever  lived  therein  does  not  ap- 
pear, but  in  1797  he  devised  this  lot  to  his  three  daugh- 
ters. By  descendants  of  these,  the  northern  part  of  the 
lot  was  sold  in  1851  to  Mr.  Wm.  C.  Bee,  whose  Ravenel 
grandchildren  still  own  it.  The  southern  part  is  now 
the  property  of  Major  Theodore  G.  Barker,  and  for 
this  parcel  a  lane  twenty  feet  wide  and  227  feet  long 
was  cut  off  as  a  carriage-way  to  Tradd  Street.  In  1796 
JNIr.  Charles  Fraser,  then  a  lad,  made  a  sketch  of  this 

224 


SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD  STREETS 

"  Capitol  Mansion  "  and  of  the  house  next  to  it,  which 
sketch  still  exists.  This  shows  the  "  Capitol  Mansion  " 
as  it  stood  until  recent  years.  The  house  was  wooden 
with  a  high  hipped  roof.  In  repairing  an  injury  from 
a  fire  this  was  straightened,  leaving  the  house  as  it 
remained  until  it  was  pulled  down  a  few  years  ago. 

The  other  house  in  Mr.  Eraser's  sketch  was  built 
upon  the  next  two  parcels,  Nos.  3  and  4,  which  had 
been  bought  in  1762  by  James  Postell  and  Charles  Pinck- 
ney,  but  within  a  few  months  were  conveyed  to  Thomas 
Ferguson,  who  erected  thereon  his  dwelling. 

The  close  conjunction  of  the  three  names  of  Charles 
Pinckney,  Thomas  Ferguson  and  Rawlins  Lowndes 
gives  a  stimulating  touch  to  the  imagination.  Col. 
Charles  Pinckney  was  already  a  noted  man  in  the 
Province ;  a  member  of  the  Commons  House,  he  became 
later  President  of  the  Provincial  Congress  and  member 
of  the  Council  of  Safety,  and  still  later  of  Rutledge's 
Privy  Council;  Rawlins  Lowndes  was  speaker  of  the 
Commons  House,  Assistant  Justice  in  1773  and  Presi- 
dent of  the  new  State  of  South  Carolina  in  1778 ;  Thomas 
Ferguson  was  a  member  of  the  Commons  House  in 
1769,  of  the  Provincial  Congress  in  1775,  of  the  Council 
of  Safety,  of  the  Legislative  and  the  Privy  Council,  and 
at  the  fall  of  Charles  Town  in  1780  was  sent  a  political 
prisoner  to  St.  Augustine. 

Mr.  Ferguson  was  a  large  planter  of  the  Parish  of 
St.  Paul,  and  as  this  country  was  for  years  a  great  "  war 
zone  "  of  the  Revolution,  there  were  consequent  enormous 
losses  to  its  inhabitants,  and  especially  to  those  who,  like 

15  225 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Ferguson,  were  prominent  leaders  of  the  Revolutionary 
party.  His  house  in  Charles  Town  long  bore  the  mark 
of  a  British  cannon  ball  fired  into  the  town  in  1780,  as 
we  are  told  by  ]Mrs.  St.  .Tulien  Ravenel,  whose  grand- 
mother, ^Irs.  Horry,  bought  the  liouse  in  1708.  It  was 
burned  in  the  great  fire  of  18G1  during  the  Confederate 
War. 

The  remaining  two  parcels  of  Conseillere's  land, 
Xos.  5  and  6,  were  sold  in  1762  by  Shubrick  to  the  execu- 
tors of  Culcheth  Golightly,  who  bought  them  as  an 
investment.  These  were  very  large  in  extent,  taking 
in  nuich  of  the  marsh-land  granted  in  1716  to  John  Bee, 
and  by  him  sold  in  1717  to  Conseillere.  How  these  were 
developed  we  will  not  now  inquire,  for  the  fire  of  1861 
enveloped  their  whole  Tradd  Street  front  in  one  black 
ruin.  One  house,  however,  was  left,  which  is  to-day  the 
residence  of  jNIr.  William  Henry  Parker. 

The  western  branch  of  Conseillere's  Creek,  extending 
across  Tradd  Street  and  its  marshes,  ran  northeast  across 
Logan  Street  nearly  to  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Friend. 
Mr.  Fraser,  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"  describes  its  course; 
but  better  still,  he  shows  it  in  his  sketch  of  the  Ferguson- 
Horry  house  previously  mentioned. 

The  house  of  JMrs.  Francis  Le  Jau  Parker  at  the 
corner  of  Tradd  and  Logan  Streets  must  have  looked 
across  the  Logan  garden  to  this  wide  marsh,  for  it  is 
believed  to  have  been  built  by  Humphrey  Sommers,  who 
died  in  1788,  leaving  the  house  to  his  daughter  ISIary, 
who  later  married  Mr.  David  Deas.  The  interior  wood- 
work of  this  house  is  excellent,  and  in  the  drawing-room 


w 
w 

i  S 

"^  a 


£    2 


Jccds,  vn^ss 


MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  MANTEL  IN  HUMPHREY  SOMMERS'  HOUSE 
Now  the  Residence  of  Mrs.  F.  Le  Jau  Parker 


MANTEL  IN  MRS.  PARKERS  HOUSE 


SOUTH  BAY,  LEGARE  AND  TRADD  STREETS 

there  is  a  very  notable  mantelpiece.  This  is  carved  in 
wood,  and  is  not  assisted  by  the  Adam  or  stucco  work, 
of  which  so  much  is  to  be  found  in  Charleston.  The 
house  was  long  the  residence  of  Judge  Edward  Frost, 
Mrs.  Parker's  father,  who  had  married  the  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  Elias  Horry.  The  latter's  house  at  the  corner 
of  Tradd  and  Meeting  Streets  has  been  described. 

For  a  while  Judge  Frost's  house  had  belonged  to 
the  widow  of  Hon.  William  Lowndes,  who  formulated, 
as  applicable  to  his  own  case,  the  principle  that  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States  should  never  be  sought, 
but  could  not  be  refused.  This  Wilham  Lowndes  was 
the  youngest  son  of  Rawlins  Lowndes,  befoa-e  men- 
tioned, and  married  a  daughter  of  Gen.  Thomas  Pinck- 
ney.  He  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  his  death  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  forty 
took  from  the  State  one  who  was  long  spoken  of  as 
"the  great  William  Lowndes."  We  owe  to  Judge 
O'Neall,  in  his  "  Bench  and  Bar  of  South  Carohna,"  a 
beautiful  tribute  to  his  character  and  great  abilities. 


TRADD,  ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 


CHAPTER  XI 
TRADD,  ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 

LOGAN  STREET,  running  north  from  Tradd, 
was  not  opened  and  the  creek  and  marsh  of  its 
/upper  end  not  filled  up  until  after  1800,  but  the 
httle  passageways,  called  Friend  Street  and  Orange 
Street,  had  been  found  necessary  much  earlier.  We  read 
in  an  old  deed  betw^een  the  owners  of  the  contiguous  lots, 
made  in  1735,  that  the  said  little  street,  called  Friend 
Street,  shall  contain  twenty  feet  in  breadth  and  "  shall 
remain  as  a  passage  for  all  his  majesty's  subjects  from 
Tradd  to  Broad  Streets."  It  was  considerably  after  the 
Confederate  War  that  this  street  was  widened,  the  im- 
provement calling  for  the  destruction  on  the  northeast 
corner  of  Tradd  of  ^Nliss  Polly  Roupell's  house,  a  queer 
little  building  of  one  story  upon  a  high  basement. 

Her  father,  George  Roupell,  the  postmaster,  and 
her  brother  had  taken  the  side  of  the  mother  country  in 
the  Revolution,  and  retired  to  England  where  the  family 
still  exists.  "  :Miss  Polly's  "  figure  flits  through  all  the 
social  traditions  of  the  British  occupation,  but  she  and 
her  mother  remained  in  America,  for  we  find  the  Due 
de  la  Rochefoucault-Liancom-t  visiting  Roupelmonde, 
their  plantation,  in  1796. 

A  very  good  law  of  the  olden  times  prevented  aliens 
from  owning  or  inheriting  real  estate  in  South  Carolina, 
and  this  was  only  abrogated  after  the  Confederate  War, 

237 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

a  knowledge  of  which  makes  the  reading  of  this  very 
old  lady's  will  especially  interesting,  for  she  had  inherited 
the  lands  to  the  exclusion  of  her  Tory  relations,  who 
became  a  half  century  later  her  devisees.  These  things 
in  our  own  history  remind  one  of  the  provisions  we  read 
of,  which  were  made  by  many  magnates  of  Scotland, 
during  the  troublous  times  of  1715-1745.  Of  such  an 
arrangement  Stevenson  has  made  a  tragic  use  in  his 
"  Master  of  Ballantrae." 

In  every  old  town,  which  has  grown  and  not  been 
planned  and  made,  what  seems  to  us  to-day  a  curious 
difference  between  one  street  and  another  is  constantly 
api^earing.  The  main  streets,  such  as  Meeting,  Church 
and  Broad,  with  many  of  these  opened  later,  were  of 
course  over  the  land  of  the  over-lords,  such  as  the  Lords 
Proprietors  and  later  the  King,  and  even  later  the 
imaginary  personality  which  replaced  them,  and  which 
we  call  the  State.  But  we  frequently  come  across  nar- 
row streets,  alleys,  and  passageways  which  were  opened 
through  their  own  land  by  individuals  or  groups  of 
adjacent  land-owners  for  the  development  of  their  lots. 
These  are  generally  of  a  width  not  exceeding  twenty 
feet,  and  often  less,  and  it  might  be  an  interesting  moot 
question  to-day  whether  the  public,  or  the  State,  or  the 
City,  owns  more  than  the  right  of  way,  which,  being 
abandoned  or  disused,  is  lost.  We  have  already  no- 
ticed sundry  examples  of  this  practice  in  speaking  of 
Friend  Street  and  of  Rivers  Street,  otherwise  Dedcott's 
Alley,  otherwise  Smith's  Lane,  otherwise  East  Lamboll 
Street. 


TRADD,  ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 

Following  Tradd  Street  to  the  eastward  we  come  to 
Orange  Street,  another  passageway  twenty  feet  wide, 
laid  out  to  give  access  to  the  lots  into  which  the  "  Orange 
Garden  "  was  divided  soon  after  1767. 

The  "  Orange  Garden  "  was  composed  of  two  original 
lots,  viz.:  No.  229  on  Tradd  Street,  granted  in  1694 
to  John  Elliott,  and  No.  178  on  Broad  Street,  granted 
in  the  same  year  to  John  Postell.  These  by  sundry 
mesne  conveyances  had  become  the  property  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Carne,  who  in  1767  conveyed  them  to  Alexander 
Petrie,  by  whom  they  were  broken  into  twelve  parcels. 

The  one  at  the  western  corner  of  Tradd  and  Orange 
Streets  was  sold  to  John  Stuart.  Colonel  Stuart  was 
an  important  personage.  His  son,  afterwards  Sir  John 
Stuart,  and  a  distinguished  general  in  the  British  Army, 
says  in  his  Memorial  to  the  British  Government  con- 
cerning his  lands  in  South  Carolina,  that  his  father  was 
a  native  of  Scotland  and  came  to  America  about  thirty 
years  before  the  Revolution. 

McCrady's  "  History  of  the  Royal  Government " 
gives  an  interesting  account  of  Captain  Stuart's  escape 
from  death,  when  the  Indians,  in  1760,  captured  Fort 
Loudoun,  and  he  was  purchased  and  preserved  by  the 
famous  chief,  Atta  Kullakulla.  Later  he  became  Su- 
perintendent of  Indian  Affairs,  and  ^lember  of  Council, 
both  in  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia 
and  the  Floridas.  ( See  Drayton's  "  Memoirs,"  vol.  i, 
p.  266.) 

At  the  outbreak  of  actual  hostilities  in  1775,  Captain 
Stuart  left  Charles  Town  for  Savannah,  and  later  retired 

239 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

to  Florida,  where  he  raised  a  regiment  of  Provincials  for 
His  ^Majesty's  service.  He  died  in  West  Florida, 
March  24,  1779.  When  he  left  Charles  Town,  the 
Provincial  Congress  ordered  that  ]Mrs.  Stuart  and  their 
daughter,  Mrs.  Edward  Fenwicke,  should  he  confined 
to  their  house,  of  which  Moultrie,  in  his  "  ]Memoirs  " 
(vol.  i,  p.  122),  gives  the  details.  This  house  Colonel 
Stuart  had  huilt  upon  the  above-mentioned  corner  of 
Orange  and  Tradd  Streets,  about  which  we  get  some 
interesting  details  from  Sir  John  Stuart's  Memorial  and 
the  evidence  attached.  This  tells  that  Colonel  Stuart 
built  the  house  himself  about  1772 — a  frame  house  three 
stories  high,  and  that  it  was  "  one  of  the  best  in  Charles 
Town,"  and  that  Colonel  Stuart  had  been  heard  to  say 
that  it  cost  £18,000  currency. 

Lieut.  John  Stuart  (later  Sir  John)  had  been  per- 
mitted  to  come  to  Charles  Town  in  1780,  where  he  joined 
the  detachment  of  the  Guards  and  marched  northward 
with  Lord  Cornwallis  to  be  dangerously  wounded  at 
Guilford.  While  in  Charles  Town  he  had  sold  the  house 
to  Dr.  Catheral  (sic,  query,  Clitheral),  but  he  said  that 
the  Americans  had  declared  the  sale  void  because  of  their 
confiscation  of  the  house  in  1775  (sic) .  xVnd  in  fact  the 
house  was  later  sold  by  the  Commissioners  of  Confiscated 
Estates  to  Commodore  Alexander  Gillon,  but  in  1795 
JNIrs,  Alexander  Petrie  brought  suit  to  foreclose  the 
mortgage  given  by  Stuart  at  the  time  of  his  purchase, 
and  the  property  Avas  sold  by  the  Master  in  Equity,  since 
wliich  it  has  passed  through  many  hands  until  it  became 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Walter  Pringle.  the  present  owner. 

240 


■'    ''  .-■?    Sir -v 


— '/ 


*      fi\'}  ''l\  ^^I'l  1"  iiflir  ■  ''>^        >-^^^^^^ 


ENTRANCE  OF  COLONEL  JOHN  STUART'S  HOUSE.  BUILT  ABOUT  1772 
Now  the  Residence  of  Mr.  Walter  Pringle 


JctlXi.    CnSaiiii      J 


Dpaainq  /loom,  &f  CoCaneC  Jiyhn  Jtlcaf^  /i&u^ 


t/cxx£c  m4h:ir~r~i 


\JLejLt 


MEASURED  DRAWING  OF  MANTEL  AND  DOORS  IN  STUART  DRATMNG-ROG.M 


^ 


^ 

^ 


TRADD, ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 

The  width  of  the  lot  was  doubled  in  the  last  century 
by  adding  to  it  the  one  adjoining  to  the  west,  which  had 
been  also  a  part  of  the  Orange  Garden.  Since  that  time 
there  have  been  additions  at  the  west  and  north,  but 
Colonel  Stuart's  original  house  remains  little  altered. 
The  drawing-room  is,  as  usual,  on  the  second  floor,  tak- 
ing up  the  width  of  the  house,  looking  out  on  Tradd 
Street.  The  mantelpiece  in  this  room  is  noticeably 
fine,  as  are  also  the  door-frames. 

Orange  Street  remains  a  passageway  with  narrow 
sidewalks  and  narrow  roadway,  quaint  and  pretty,  with 
a  number  of  the  typical  Charleston  houses,  old  and  new, 
opening  upon  it.  Passing  this  group  of  houses  you 
walk  on  the  west  side  of  the  street  under  a  long  brick 
wall,  overhung  with  trees  and  vines  and  flowering  shrubs. 
Nor  is  the  wall  too  high  to  allow  you  to  receive  the 
impression  of  the  extensive  garden  behind  it,  which  can 
be  entered  from  the  street  by  a  quaint  little  arched 
postern-gate.  This  is  the  garden  of  Capt.  Frederick 
W.  Wagener,  whose  house  stands  on  the  Broad  Street 
end  of  the  former  Orange  Garden. 

These  lots,  Nos.  1  and  2  of  the  twelve  parcels  of 
the  garden,  were  acquired  by  James  Laurens,  the  brother 
of  Henry  Laurens,  sometime  President  of  Congress. 
James  Laurens  died  in  France  about  the  end  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.  It  seems  probable  that  it  was  he 
who  built  the  house  here  erected,  for  in  1788,  his  execu- 
tors sold  the  property  to  Hon.  Edward  Rutledge  a 
signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  who  in  1800 
died.  Governor  of  South  Carolina.  His  executor  sold 
it  in  1802,  as  his  late  residence,  to  Henry  Laurens,  who 


247 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

in  1803  sold  it  to  Dr.  Alexander  Baron,  for  many  years 
a  leading  physician  of  Charleston.  The  house  is  no 
longer  an  example  of  the  architecture  of  its  day,  for  it 
has  been  altered  and  modernized  beyond  recognition  by 


Mil 


GARDEN  GATE  ON  ORANGE  STREET 
Captain  Frederick  W.  Wagener's  Residence 

the  present  owner,  Captain  Wagener.  But  through  the 
iron  rail,  which  separates  it  from  Broad  Street,  the  dig- 
nity of  the  house  with  its  broad  piazzas  and  large  well- 
kept  garden  cannot  fail  to  impress  the  passers-by.  The 
next  house  to  the  west,  also  with  a  large  garden,  carries 
on  this  impression.  The  latter  is  to-day  owned  by  Mr. 
Irvine  Keith  Heyward. 

248 


TRADD,  ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 

In  tracing  the  course  of  a  great  and  disastrous  fire 
it  seems  often  curiously  erratic.  Just  at  this  corner 
that  of  1861  burned  a  large  house  to  the  east  of  Orange 
Street,  and  then,  skipping  the  two  houses  above  men- 
tioned, swept  its  way  westward  and  southward,  consum- 
ing everything  to  the  water's  edge,  leaving  only  one 
house,  the  John  Ashe  Alston's,  at  the  far  end  of  Tradd, 
and  also  one  near  the  extreme  end  of  Broad,  both  of 
which  happened  to  be  of  wood.  Of  the  long  street  of 
fine  houses  on  the  north  side  of  Broad,  west  of  King, 
only  three  remained,  which  face  this  corner.  These  are 
to-day  the  residences  of  Mr.  George  D.  Bryan,  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  and  of  Mr.  R.  Goodwyn  Rhett, 
of  whom  both  Mr.  Bryan  and  Mr.  Rhett  have  been 
Mayors  of  Charleston. 

Mr.  Bryan's  house  is  mentioned  in  the  will  of  Ralph 
Izard  on  September  13, 1757  (South  Carolina  Historical 
and  Genealogical  3Iagazine,  vol.  ii,  p.  233),  but,  as  he 
had  acquired  the  property  only  eighteen  months  before, 
it  seems  possible  that  it  was  built  by  a  previous  owner; 
for  we  find  in  the  will  of  William  Harvey  in  1739  that 
he  was  then  in  possession  of  the  lot,  which  he  devised  to 
his  son  Benjamin,  who  held  it  until  1756. 

The  plan  of  this  old  house  is  very  like  that  of  the 
Eveleigh  house  (now  Mrs.  Marshall's)  on  "  Church 
Street  continued,"  the  date  of  which  we  have  shown  to 
lie  between  1745  and  1753;  but  the  Izard  house  is  on  a 
larger  scale  and  the  finish  more  elaborate.  The  two 
mantelpieces  in  the  drawing-room,  however,  are  of  a 
much  later  date,  having  been  brought  from  Italy  by  a 
later  owner,  Mrs.  John  Julius  Pringle,  afterwards  the 

249 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

wife  of  Hon.  Joel  11.  Poinsett,  who  was  a  granddaughter 
of  this  Kalph  Izard.  The  house  remained  in  this  family 
for  a  hundred  years,  until  it  was  sold  in  18,58  to  Judge 
King,  whose  descendants  still  live  there. 

The  house  to  the  west,  now  the  residence  of  the  Bishop 
of  Charleston,  stands  on  a  part  of  the  same  lot,  having 
been  begun  by  Kalph  Izard,  son  of  the  one  just  men- 


PLAN  OF  IZARD  HOUSE 

tioned,  and  father  of  ]Mrs.  Poinsett.  In  the  division  of 
this  gentleman's  real  estate  this  house,  then  unfinished, 
fell  to  a  daughter,  who  died  unmarried,  when  it  was  sold 
in  1829  to  Col.  Thomas  Pinckney,  a  son  of  Gen.  Thomas 
Pinckney,  who  had  married  her  sister,  Elizabeth  Izard, 
and  who  finished  the  building  of  the  house.  In  1866  it 
was  sold  by  his  daughter,  ]Mrs.  Rosetta  Ella  Izard,  the 
widow  of  Ralph  Stead  Izard,  to  the  Right  Rev.  Patrick 
N.  Lynch,  Bishop  of  Charleston. 

250 


W> 

^  S 

EI  S 

ft      Q 


c  -- 

C  w 

c  2 

re  " 

?  2 

C  Z 

3  «! 


^ 


u-V^v  (jJ 


TRADD,  ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 

Mrs.  Poinsett  and  her  sisters  will  not  soon  be  for- 
gotten in  the  social  annals  of  Charleston.  Her  first  hus- 
band was  John  Julius  Pringle,  a  son  of  the  attorney 
general  of  the  same  name,  by  whom  she  had  but  one  son. 
Later  in  life  she  married  JNIr.  Joel  R.  Poinsett,  whose 
life  reads  like  a  romance,  for  he  was  in  early  life  a  great 


MANTEL  IN  IZARD  HOUSE 

traveller  in  Europe  and  Asia.  His  wanderings  included 
South  America  also,  and  in  a  semi-official  capacity  he 
witnessed  from  the  shore  the  famous  battle  between  the 
U.  S.  S.  Essex  and  the  ships  of  his  Britannic  Majesty, 
the  Phoehe  and  the  Cherub,  fought  off  Valparaiso  in 
1814.  But  his  name  is  best  known  to  later  generations, 
not  because  he  was  long  in  Congress  and  Minister  to 
iNIexico  and  Secretary  of  War,  but  it  has  been  carried 
throughout  the  world  by  the  beautiful  plant,  the  Poin- 
settia,  which  he  found  in  INIexico. 


253 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

The  original  lots,  as  laid  down  in  the  "  Grand  Modell 
of  Charles  Town,"  were  very  large,  and  it  is  interesting 
to  notice  their  development.  In  the  oldest  part  of  the 
walled  town  they  were  very  soon  broken  up  into  "  par- 
cels," but  with  the  expansion  both  in  space  and  wealth, 
where  the  lots  remained  unbroken,  we  find  the  owners 
building  in  one  generation  what  seemed  to  them  an  im- 
posing "  mansion  "  or  "  great  brick  house,"  as  many 
conveyances  put  it.  Thereupon  the  next  generation 
would  build  at  the  other  end  a  more  imposing  "  mes- 
suage," leaving  still  the  earlier  house  for  us  to  mark 
the  contrast.  In  later  generations,  to  gain  space,  the 
building  of  a  large  house  involved  the  destruction  of 
several  smaller  ones.  And  the  ebb  and  flow  of  this 
became  constant.  One  man  w^ould  buy  and  j^ull  down 
his  neighbor's  house  to  enlarge  his  grounds,  on  which 
his  successor  would  build  another  small  house  to  enlarge 
his  income.  Nowhere  is  this  more  noticeable  than  in 
Charleston,  where  the  expansion  of  wealth  induced  the 
earlier  inhabitants  to  build  in  their  gardens  constantly 
larger  and  better  houses,  until  the  universal  ruin,  follow- 
ing the  Confederate  War,  reversed  the  process,  and  the 
spare  land  was  built  upon  for  a  number  of  years  with 
smaller  houses.  The  result  was  tJie  continuation,  or  re- 
vival, of  the  jumble  of  style  which  we  find  interesting 
in  the  older  cases,  where  the  tendency  was  to  improve, 
and  disappointing  in  the  later,  where  the  contrast  marks 
a  break  and  not  a  development. 

Next  to  the  last-named  Izard-Pinckney  house' stands 
one  which  was  at  one  time  the  residence  of  "  Dictator  " 
John  Rutledge,  but  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 

254 


TRADD,  ORANGE  AND  BROAD  STREETS 

century  it  came  into  the  possession  of  Gen.  John  ^IcPher- 
son,  a  most  prominent  figm-e  on  the  tm-f  in  South  Caro- 
hna.  He  was  one  of  the  large  group  of  historical  men  to 
whom  is  due  the  credit  of  improving  the  stock  of  horses 
in  the  State,  and  of  maintaining  the  high  standard  of 
racing,  which  made  the  South  Carolina  Jockey  Club 
famous  in  the  annals  of  horse-racing  in  America  at  a 
time  when  it  was  the  sport  of  gentlemen  and  not  the 
occupation  of  gamblers. 

By  the  heirs  of  his  son,  James  McPherson,  the  house 
was  sold  in  1836  and,  after  passing  through  several  hands, 
is  to-day  the  property  of  ^Ir.  R.  Goodwyn  Rhett. 

The  drawing-room  on  the  second  floor  is  large  and 
with  a  coved  ceiling.  In  this  room  the  United  States 
Courts  sat  for  a  time  after  the  Confederate  War,  until 
the  Government  bought  the  Charleston  Club  House,  the 
site  of  which  was  the  small  park  or  square  just  south  of 
the  present  post  office  ( 1916) .  The  heavy  iron  balconies 
and  fence  on  the  front  of  the  house  were  added  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Xorman  Gadsden,  who  bought  it  in  1853. 

St.  Andrew's  Hall,  burnt  in  the  great  fire  of  1861, 
was  just  west  of  this  house,  and  was  built  on  a  lot  pur- 
chased by  the  Society  in  1811.  It  was  here  that  Lafay- 
ette was  entertained  by  the  City  when  he  visited  Charles- 
ton in  1825,  the  building  having  been  arranged  and 
furnished  as  his  temporary  residence.  Here  too,  on 
Dec.  20,  1860,  was  passed  the  Ordinance  of  Secession 
which  was  fomially  signed  on  the  evening  of  the  same 
day  in  the  hall  of  the  South  Carolina  Institute,  after- 
wards called  Secession  Hall  until  it  also  was  burned  in 
the  same  great  fire. 

255 


FROM  THE  CITY  HALL  TO  THE  OLD 

EXCHANGE,  COLLETON  SQUARE, 

AND  RHETTSBURY 


17 


CHAPTER  XII 

FROM  THE  CITY  HALL  TO  THE  OLD 

EXCHANGE,  COLLETON  SQUARE, 

AND  RHETTSBURY 

WHEN  Charles  Town  was  first  fortified  the 
entrance  from  the  landward  side  was 
thi-ough  Johnson's  Half-moon  Battery, 
which  lay  across  Broad  Street,  covering  the  sites  of  the 
Court  House  and  Post  Office  of  to-day. 

Entering  the  town  here,  to  the  left  was  found  the 
Beef  Market,  on  the  north  of  "  Cooper  "  or  Broad  Street, 
and  to  the  right  the  original  Anglican  Church  of  St. 
Philip's,  on  the  site  of  which  St.  Michael's  was  erected 
between  1752,  when  the  cornerstone  was  laid,  and  1761, 
when  the  first  service  was  held.  ( See  Courtenay's  "  Year 
Book  of  Charleston  for  1886,"  for  an  excellent  account 
of  this  Church  by  George  S.  Holmes.)  Through  all 
its  changes  this  remains  to-day  the  principal  point 
in  Charleston  in  a  public  sense,  having  upon  its  four 
corners  the  Court  House,  which  was  the  State  House  of 
an  earlier  day,  the  United  States  Post  Office  and  Court 
House,  the  old  colonial  Church  of  St.  INIichael,  and  the 
City  Hall.  The  market  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the 
last  building  was  destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1796,  which 
swept  from  Lodge  Alley,  near  the  Bay,  to  Meeting 
Street,  consuming  nearly  all  the  buildings  between 
Queen,  State,  Broad,  and  Meeting  Streets. 

259 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

The  Hank  of  the  United  States  acquired  from  City 
Council  in  1800,  the  site  of  the  Heef  Market  "  for  the 
piH'pose  of  erecting  an  elegant  building  thereon  for  a 
Hanking  House."  In  this  deed  the  bounds  are  given  as 
West  on  ^Meeting  Street,  South  on  Broad,  North  by 
]\Iarket  Street,  and  East  by  an  alley  twenty-four  feet 
wide.  Market  Street  was  then  the  small  street  just 
north  of  this  old  market,  corresponding  to  that  north  of 
"  Court  House  Square,"  just  opposite.  The  Bank 
seems  to  have  held  it  until  1811,  when  it  was  conveyed 
to  Trustees  for  purposes  of  liquidation,  and  at  some 
time  subsequently  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  State 
Bank,  who  sold  it  in  1818  to  City  Council. 

The  City  acquired  also  a  num])er  of  lots  around  it. 
Then,  widening  the  alleys  at  the  north,  they  opened  out 
Chalmers  Street  and  laid  out  the  City  Square  on  the 
present  lines.  The  fireproof  record  office  was  built,  about 
1826,  at  the  northwest  corner,  by  the  State  (or  County) 
authorities,  and  by  arrangement  with  the  City,  its 
grounds  are  treated  as  a  part  of  the  Square. 

The  extreme  east  end  of  the  Square  had  been  a  part 
of  the  lot  of  ]Mr.  Daniel  Ravenel,  whose  house  had  been 
burned  in  the  same  fire  of  1796.  He  rebuilt  it  at  once 
and  his  substantial  brick  house  can  be  given,  therefore,  a 
date  of  about  1800. 

The  house  with  its  long  piazzas,  and  long  brick  out- 
buildings with  black  tiled  roofs,  and  narrow  deep  garden 
running  back  to  the  wall  of  the  Confederate  School, 
makes  a  picturesque  boundary  to  the  Square.  This  lot 
has  a  sentimental  interest  also,  for  it  is  one  of  the  in- 

260 


CITY  HALL,  OLD  EXCHANGE,  ETC. 

stances  where  a  property  has  descended  in  the  same 
family  line  for  about  two  hundred  years,  having  been 


CORNER  OF  DANIEL  RAVENEL  HOUSE  ON  BROAD  STREET,  BUILT  ABOUT  1800 

possessed  by  the  immigrant,  Isaac  JNIazyck  and  his  son 
Paul,  at  whose  death  in  1748-1749  it  passed  by  devise 
to  his  daughter,  :Mrs.  Ravenel,  in  whose  line  it  continues 

261 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

to-day.  In  the  family  record  we  are  told  that  ^Ir.  and 
Mrs.  Paul  Mazyck  died  at  "  Pooshee  "  nearly  together 
and  nearly  simultaneously  with  ^Nlrs.  ^lazyck's  half- 
brother  Rene  Ravenel,  and  that  the  tliree  were  buried 
at  the  same  time  on  that  plantation. 

Between  this  point  and  the  so-called  old  post  office, 
have  iJ-athered  the  various  sorts  of  financial  business  of 
the  town — banks,  insurance  agencies,  brokers'  offices, 
while  certainly  lawyers  are  not  wanting.  Among  these 
a  building  notable  for  its  history  is  that  of  the  Bank  of 
Charleston.  This  was  built  by  the  second  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  but  was  acquired  in  1836  by  the  Bank 
of  Charleston.  The  latter  with  its  capital  of  over  three 
millions  of  dollars  held  an  important  position  among  the 
banks  of  the  country,  and  people  still  living  may  re- 
member that  in  the  great  panic  of  1857  it  alone  of 
Charleston  Banks  did  not  suspend  specie  payments  at 
its  counters. 

The  street  at  this  end  is  headed  by  the  "  Exchange 
and  Custom  House,"  built  between  1767  and  1771  by 
Peter  and  John  Horlbeck.  In  the  Year  Book  of  1898 
may  be  found  a  complete  account  of  this  memorable 
building  and  a  resume  of  the  many  historical  events 
which  gave  interest  to  it.  It  is  enough  here  to  quote 
as  briefly  as  possible  from  that  authority  some  of  the 
events  which  have  given  the  building  a  permanent  his- 
torical interest.  Architecturally  it  should  be  examined 
from  the  east  front,  the  a2)pearance  of  which  has  been 
nmch  changed  from  the  day  when  it  was  the  principal 
front  of  the  ])uilding,  and  when  in  1773  Mr.  Josiah 
Quincy,  Jr.,  said  of  it  that  "  the  new  Exchange,  which 


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r-  1- 


CITY  HALL,  OLD  EXCHANGE,  ETC. 

pointed  the  place  of  my  Landing,  made  a  most  noble 
appearance."  ^Ir.  Quincy  evidently  visited  Charles 
Town  without  a  previous  comprehension  of  what  he  was 
to  see  here,  for  he  says  that  "  this  town  makes  a  most 
beautiful  appearance  as  you  come  up  to  it,  and  in  many 
respects  a  magnificent  one.  I  can  only  say  in  general 
that  in  granduer  {sic),  splendor  of  buildings,  decora- 
tions, equipages,  numbers,  commerce,  shipping  and,  in- 
deed, almost  everything,  it  surpassed  all  I  ever  saw  or 
expect  to  see  in  America." 

But  unfortunately  this  noble  front  of  the  building 
has  been  obscured  by  houses  and  heavy  blocks  of  ware- 
houses that  have  been  erected  between  it  and  the  water. 
A  piazza,  fifteen  feet  in  the  clear,  from  the  stone  pave- 
ment to  the  ceiling,  was  reached  by  steps  of  solid  Port- 
land stone  with  hand-rail  and  banisters  of  the  same. 
This  has  been  taken  away  and  the  east  wall  now  rises 
from  a  narrow  brick  sidewalk. 

When  Charles  Town  was  occupied  by  the  British 
in  1780  it  was  used  as  a  prison  for  the  numerous  citizens 
arrested  and  later  exiled.  Col.  Isaac  Hayne,  too,  was 
here  confined  up  to  the  day  of  his  execution.  The  steps 
of  this  building  have  been  the  scene  of  many  impressive 
happenings.  Here,  Drayton  tells  us  in  his  "  ^lemoirs," 
Lord  William  Campbell  landed  and  heard  his  commis- 
sion read  from  the  portico,  received  in  "  sullen  silence  " 
by  the  hearers.  Here,  too,  Washington,  says  Charles 
Fraser,  stood  in  1791  "  uncovered  amidst  the  enthusi- 
astic acclamations  of  the  citizens,"  and  here  was  given 
in  his  honor  a  concert  and  ball. 

267 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

In  1818  the  City  sold  the  building  to  the  United 
States,  and  it  was  for  many  years  used  as  a  custom 
house  and  post  office.  During  the  bombardment  of  the 
city  in  the  Confederate  \Var  it  suffered  like  its  neigh- 
bors from  hostile  shells. 

The  United  States  had,  before  1861,  erected  a  new 
custom  house  at  the  corner  of  ^Market  Street  and  East 
Bay,  which  was  yet  unfinished  at  that  date.  After  the 
war  it  was  completed  upon  a  reduced  plan  without  the 
proposed  porticos  south  and  north  and  without  the 
intended  dome.  Nevertheless  it  remains  an  imposing 
edifice. 

When  the  new  post  office  on  ^Meeting  Street  was  com- 
pleted, the  old  Eixchange  was  devoted  to  other  uses. 
It  is  to-day  (1916)  in  the  hands  of  the  Light  House 
Board,  but  when  their  depot  and  offices  will  have  been 
moved  to  the  west  end  of  Tradd  Street,  the  Exchange 
will  pass  into  the  control  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
Revolution. 

East  Bay  was,  from  the  settlement  of  the  town,  the 
scene  of  its  growing  commerce.  As  town  and  commerce 
grew,  so  did  the  number  of  piers,  extending  ever  north- 
ward, while  the  shoal-lots  to  the  east  of  the  curtain  line 
were  reclaimed  and  filled  up.  Then  short  streets  were 
laid  out  east  of  East  Bay  at  various  dates  and,  upon  the 
wharves,  office  buildings  and  warehouses  in  increasing 
numbers  were  built.  But  after  1860,  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  the  l)light  of  disastrous  war,  and  of  resulting 
anarchy  and  misgovernment,  checked  development  and 
destroyed  much,  making  the  subsequent  story  of  that 

268 


CITY  HALL,  OLD  EXCHANGE,  ETC. 

part  of  the  town  one  of  decay  instead  of  growth.  When 
the  "  Prostrate  State  "  finally  revived  after  1876,  trade 
had  taken  other  courses,  and  too,  the  water-borne  traffic 
of  to-day  is  carried  by  great  steamers,  each  of  the  ca- 
pacity of  many  such  sailing  vessels  as  were  thought  large 
in  their  day.  These  great  carriers  are  steadily  seeking 
landing  places  nearer  to  the  railroad  terminals,  leaving 
in  decadence  the  once  busy  river-front  below  Broad 

Street. 

The  water  front  above  :Market  Street  has  been  almost 
entirely  reclaimed  from  marshes,  and  this  street  itself, 
at  its  east  end,  is  a  reclamation  from  the  waters,  for  the 
ancient  walled  town  w\as  there  bounded  by  a  creek  with 
a  wide  marsh.  Here,  some  time  before  the  Revolution, 
a  canal  had  been  dug  and  the  process  of  reclaiming  the 
low  lands  had  made  great  progress.  This  canal  was 
crossed  by  the  "  Governor's  Bridge,"  connecting  the 
older  part  of  the  town  with  Colleton  Square,  which  had 
been  early  broken  up  into  building  lots  and  laid  out  into 
streets.  This  grant  of  Lot  No.  80  of  the  "  Grand 
]Modell,"  containing  nine  acres,  two  roods  and  two 
perches,  had  been  made  in  1681  to  Sir  Peter  Colleton  and 
it  was  sold  by  his  grandson,  Hon.  John  Colleton,  July  14, 
1736,  to  George  Hunter,  the  Surveyor-General,  who,  in 
a  conveyance  (]MCO,  Book  ^NOI,  p.  253)  recites  that, 
although  the  title  was  taken  in  his  own  name,  it  was 
bought  for  himself,  Charles  Pinckney,  and  Thomas 
Ellery  as  tenants  in  common. 

Here  it  was  that  Chief  Justice  Pinckney  built  his 
house  which  is  well  described  in  Mrs.  Ravenel's  "  Life 


269 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

of  Eliza  Pinckney  "  and  of  the  building  of  which  we 
will  speak  later.  It  was  close  to  this  that  the  great  fire 
of  December  11,  1861,  broke  out,  in  which  this  fine 
mansion  was  consumed. 

On  the  made  ground  just  south  of  it  the  market 
had  been  built  in  the  first  part  of  the  last  century.  These 
long  sheds,  broken  by  intersecting  streets,  still  run  from 
East  Bay  to  INIeeting  Street  with  a  broad  street  on  each 
side.  At  the  jNIeeting  Street  end  the  entrance  passes 
under  the  Market  Hall,  where  the  Daughters  of  the 
Confederacy  have  their  JMuseum  of  War  Relics. 

Just  above  Colleton  Square  lay  Rhettsbury,  which 
may  be  found  described  in  a  deed  of  trust  by  Chief  Jus- 
tice Nicholas  Trott  and  Sarah,  his  wife,  the  widow  of 
Col.  William  Rhett.  After  the  death  of  Colonel  Rhett, 
Trott  had  married  his  widow,  who  was  the  sister  of  his 
own  first  wife,  for  Trott  and  Rhett  had  married  sisters 
by  the  name  of  Cooke.  By  his  first  marriage  Trott 
had  one  daughter  Mary,  who  married  Colonel  Rhett's 
son,  also  named  William  Rhett. 

Among  Colonel  Rhett's  children  was  a  daughter 
Mary,  who  was  the  second  wife  of  Richard  Wright,  a 
son  of  Major  John  Wright,  the  quondam  Indian  Agent 
of  the  Province. 

This  Mary  Rhett  had  by  Wright  an  only  daughter 
Sarah,  who  married  James  Hasell,  Jr.,  a  son  of  the 
Chief  Justice  of  Xorth  Carolina,  by  whom  she  had  two 
daughters,  Susannah  and  Mary,  who  married  respec- 
tively Parker  Quince  and  John  Ancrum,  both  of  Xorth 
Carolina.     Mrs.  Ancrum  married,  2nd,  Caleb  Grainger 

270 


CITY  HALL,  OLD  EXCHANGE,  ETC. 

and,  3rd,  Archibald  INIcAlister,  both  of  North  Carohna. 
This  is  given  in  detail  because  these  two  ladies  were 
destined  to  divide  between  them  the  Rhettsbury  or  Point 
plantation. 

On  April  17,  1734,  Nicholas  Trott  and  Sarah,  his 
wife,  made  this  deed  of  trust  to  Rev.  Alexander  Garden 
and  JosejDh  Wragg  for  the  use  of  said  Trott  and  Sarah, 
his  wife,  for  their  lives;  then  to  the  use  of  Richard 
Wright  and  JNIary  Rhett,  his  intended  wife,  with  re- 
mainder to  the  heirs  of  their  bodies.  This  deed  con- 
veyed the  following  lands  acquired  by  Colonel  and  ^Nlrs. 
Rhett  from  the  estate  of  Jonathan  Amor}^  who  died  in 
1699,  viz.:  twenty  acres  without  the  town  limits;  also 
eleven  adjacent  lots  just  within  the  town  limits;  and 
also  eight  acres  of  marsh-land — "  which  said  parcels  of 
land  and  town  lots  are  commonly  known  as  the  Point 
Plantation  or  Rhetts  Berry";  and  "a  large  brick 
Mansion  and  out  houses  and  all  the  other  houses,  mes- 
suages, etc.,  standing  on  said  plantation."  The  grantors 
excepted  from  the  lands  described  sundry,  say  three, 
parcels  "  formerly  sold  by  them." 

Upon  this  plantation  of  Amory's  there  had  been  a 
previous  house  which  must  have  been  of  some  impor- 
tance. In  Amory's  lifetime  it  had  been  his  residence, 
and  after  his  death  had  been  occupied  by  two  successive 
governors,  Col.  James  IMoore  and  Sir  Nathaniel  John- 
son, at  a  rental  of  £29.  It  had  been  burned  at  some 
time  before  1707,  and  upon  the  site  the  Rhett  house  was 
built. 

This  Jonathan  Amory  was  Speaker  of  the  Commons 

271 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

House.  His  son  removed  to  Boston,  where  he  became 
the  forefather  of  the  well-known  family  of  that  name  still 
existing  there.  An  account  of  them  is  given  in  "  The 
Descendants  of  Hugh  Amory,"  from  which  the  above 
item  is  taken. 

It  is  well  to  note  in  the  Trott  deed  of  1734  the  men- 
tion of  the  "  large  brick  ^Mansion,"  for  in  Colonel  Rhett's 
will,  dated  in  1722,  and  proved  in  January,  1722-1723, 
we  find  it  stated  that  his  wife  would  hold  by  survivor- 
ship the  plantation  without  the  fortifications  of  Charles 
Town,  "  called  the  Point  or  Rhettsbury  together  with 
the  ^lansion  house  in  which  I  now  dwell  and  all  the 
other  buildings  standing  or  being  on  the  same."  Hunter's 
]\Iap,  dated  1739  (see  Year  Book,  1884),  has  upon  it 
in  dotted  lines  the  plan  of  the  Point  with  its  recessed 
gateway  on  "The  High  Way"  (now  King  Street), 
and  a  long  road  leading  up  to  the  house  with  its  grounds, 
and  continuing  beyond  to  the  water's  edge. 

Accompanying  a  conveyance  (in  M.C.O.,  Book  14, 
190) ,  dated  December  13, 1773,  is  a  plat  of  the  partition 
between  Parker  Quince  and  John  Ancrum  of  these 
lands,  bearing  the  various  parcels  lettered  and  numbered. 
Of  these  "  A  No.  2  "  fell,  among  others,  to  Parker 
Quince,  and  on  January  2,  1774,  he  sold  a  portion  of  it 
to  Jonathan  San-azen,  "  together  with  the  large  brick 
mansion  house  thereon  standing,"  etc.  ( See  MCO,  Book 
B-5,  p.  526.) 

On  JNIarch  12,  1788,  Sarrazen  conveyed  the  same 
premises  for  £3000  sterling  to  Archibald  INIcAlister,  but 
without  any  special  mention  of  the  house.    Mr.  Archibald 

272 


CITY  HALL,  OLD  EXCHANGE,  ETC. 

McAlister,  "  kte  of  Cape  Fear,"  in  his  will,  proved  in 
1792,  leaves  to  his  wife  Mary  (late  widow  of  John  An- 
criini)  the  brick  mansion  house  and  lot,  north  side  of 
Ilasell  Street,  "  whereon  we  now  reside,"  etc.  Also 
:Mrs.  :McAlister,  in  her  will,  proved  in  New  Hanover, 
X.  C,  in  1795,  devised  to  her  son,  James  Hasell  Ancrum, 
"  my  mansion  house "  on  the  north  side  of  Hasell 
Street. 

The  conveyance  by  James  Hasell  Ancrum  to  Chris- 
topher Fitzsimons  for  $17,142.86  on  :May  1,  1807,  is  to 
be  found  in  M.C.O.,  W-7,  p.  49;  and  in  his  family  it 
remained  until  1873,  when  it  was  sold  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Porcher  Fitzsimons,  the  widow  of  his  son  Christopher 
and  daughter  of  :Mr.  John  Stoney.  The  devolution  of 
the  title  has  been  thus  fully  given  because  of  the  con- 
stant mention  of  the  "  large  brick  house  "  thereon,  mak- 
ing it  hardly  to  be  questioned  that  this  is  the  identical 
brick  house  described  by  Col.  William  Rhett  in  his  will 
in  1722.  The  house  is  now  the  property  of  ^Ir.  F.  W. 
S  tender. 

A  mass  of  interesting  tradition  has  centred  around 
this  house.  As  Colonel  Rhett  conveyed  by  deed  of  gift 
to  his  son  ^Villiam,  in  1716,  his  own  "  large  brick  house  " 
on  East  Ray  and  the  wharf  or  bridge  before  it,  it  seems 
probable  that  tlie  house  on  Rhett's  Point  was  his  resi- 
dence at  the  time  when  as  Vice- Admiral  he  sailed  to  Cape 
Fear  and  returned  after  a  bloody  light  with  Ronnet  and 
his  captured  crew  "  to  the  great  joy  of  the  whole 
province." 

It  seems  possible  too,  that  Chief  Justice  Trott  for  a 

18  273 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 


time  made  this  his  home  after  his  marriage  to  Colonel 
Rliett's  widow. 

Christopher  Fitzsimons,  who  hought  the  house  in 
1807,  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  Paul  Pritchard. 
Fitzsimons'  daughter  married  Col.   Wade  Hampton, 


JtU,,lt.HSr^UA 


,  wSrlgfc-  —- - 


HOUSE  OF  COLONEL  WILLLVM  RIIETT.  lUILT  BEFX)RE  17*0 
Now  the  Kcsidence  of  Mr.   F.   \V.  Stendi-r 

and  not  tlie  least  interesting  fact  about  the  old  house  is 
the  birth  there  on  March  28,  1818,  of  Lieut.-Gen.  Wade 
Hampton,  the  great  cavalry  leader  of  Lee's  Army,  some- 
time Governor  of  South  Carolina  and  U.  S.  Senator, 
who  headed  the  white  men  of  Carolina  when  they 
threw  off  the  infamous  black-and-tan  government  of 
reconstruction. 

274 


DOORWAYS  IN  DRAWING-ROOM  OF  COLONEL  WILLIAM  RHETTS  HOUSE 


MANTEL  IN  DRAWING-ROOM  OF  COLONEL  WILLIAM  RHETT'S  HOUSE 


CITY  HALL,  OLD  EXCHANGE,  ETC. 

The  house  is  a  two-story  square  brick  building  on  a 
basement,  with  a  piazza  to  the  east  and  one  to  the  west, 
and  is  entered  from  the  latter,  to  which  the  entrance  from 
the  street  is  by  a  quaint  heavy  flight  of  steps. 

The  plan  of  the  first  floor  is  strikingly  like  that  of 
the  Izard  house  (now  Mr.  Bryan's)  on  Broad  Street. 

As  is  usually  the  case  in  this  type  of  house,  the  front 
or  western  rooms  are  larger  than  the  back  rooms,  the 
space  for  the  huge  chimneys  and  the  closets  beside  them 
having  been  taken  from  the  latter.  The  front  rooms 
take  up  the  whole  width  of  the  house,  north  to  south, 
while  the  back  rooms  are  divided  from  each  other  by  the 
staircase-hall.  As  the  house  now  stands  the  northwest- 
ern room  has  been  lengthened,  but  Hunter's  plat, 
already  mentioned,  shows  the  building  as  an  unbroken 
rectangle.  The  southwestern  room  was  evidently  the 
original  drawing-room,  and  although  the  mantelpiece 
has  been  replaced  by  one  of  marble,  the  interesting 
plaster  decorations  of  the  walls  still  remain. 

In  laying  out  the  land  of  Rhettsbury  into  building 
lots,  the  owners  gave  to  the  streets  opened  by  them  the 
names  of  their  various  families.  The  northern  boundary 
was  Trott  Street,  which  has  been  changed  to  Wentworth 
Street,  that  being  the  name  of  the  street  running  west- 
wardly  from  Meeting  Street.  The  central  street  was 
called  Hasell  Street  and  retains  the  name  to  this  day. 
The  street  to  the  east  was  named  Quince  Street,  being 
a  continuation  of  Anson  Street  below  Society.  On  the 
south  was  Ancrum  Street,  absorbed  later  by  Pinckney 
Street,  which  about  1819  was  opened  through  to 
Meeting. 

277 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

On  the  west  was  the  "  Broad  Path  "  or  "  High  Way," 
now  King  Street,  which  led  to  "  Quarter  House,  Goose 
Creek  and  Virginia"  (see  inset  map  in  Hunter's 
"  Ichnography  of  Charles  Town  at  High  Water  " — 
Year  Book,  188-1),  until  at  the  said  Quarter  House  it 
branched,  w^hen  the  western  fork  continued  "  to  Ashley, 
Dorchester,  and  Georgia." 

This  Quarter  House  was  a  noted  place  in  the  military 
history  of  the  town.  During  their  occupation  the  British 
maintained  here  a  strong  outpost,  which  was  captured 
by  Col.  Wade  Hampton  when  he,  in  July,  1781,  "  rattled 
at  the  gates  of  Charles  Town  "  during  the  rapid  advance 
of  Greene's  cavalry  under  Sumter  and  "  Light-Horse  " 
Henry  Lee  of  the  I^egion. 

Col.  Wade  Hampton,  of  the  Revolution,  became 
later  a  JMajor-General  in  the  United  States  Army,  hold- 
ing for  a  time,  during  the  War  of  1812-1815,  a  command 
on  the  Canadian  frontier.  His  son,  also  styled  Col. 
Wade  Hampton,  was  the  father  of  I^ieut.-Gen.  Wade 
Hampton,  of  the  Confederate  War. 


ANSONBOROUGH,  LAURENS  SQUARE, 
AND  GENERAL  GADSDEN'S  LAND 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ANSONBOROUGH,  LAURENS  SQUARE, 
AND  GENERAL  GADSDEN'S  LAND 

ik  BOVE  Rhettsbury  lay  Lord  Anson's  lands,  the 
/  \  historj^  of  which  is  quite  interesting.  In  the 
i  J^M.C.O.,  Book  RR,  p.  522,  there  is  a  recital  of 
the  devolution  of  his  title. 

In  1696  there  were  granted  to  the  immigrant,  Isaac 
Mazyck,  90  acres  and  in  1706  a  contiguous  tract  of  71 
acres.  Of  this  "  plantation  "  Isaac  Mazyck  conveyed 
63  or  64  acres  to  "  Col.  Edward  Tynte,  then  Governor 
of  South  and  North  Carolina,"  who,  however,  soon  re- 
conveyed  same  to  jNIazyck.  In  1720,  the  said  JNIazyck 
and  JNIariana,  his  wife,  conveyed  to  Thomas  Gadsden 
this  "  Plantation  "  of  63  or  64  acres  with  the  marsh-land 
adjoining,  but  the  Mazycks  reserved  a  way  through  the 
said  plantation  from  the  Broad  Road  to  the  bridge  across 
the  marsh  to  a  plantation  then  in  their  possession,  and 
also  the  right  to  use  the  well  or  spring  on  said  plantation 
for  their  natural  lives.  The  marsh,  crossed  by  the 
bridge,  was  probably  that  at  the  east  end  of  Calhoun 
Street,  separating  this  property  from  INIazyckboro  to 
the  north  of  it. 

Gadsden  very  soon,  say  in  1726,  sold  to  Francis  Le 
Brasseur  a  lot  104  feet  by  244  on  the  southeast  part  of 
the  high  land,  bounding  east  on  the  marsh  and  south  on 
Mrs.  Sarah  Rhett's  pasture  land,  and  it  was  probably  by 

281 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Le  Brasseur  tliat  it  was  called  "  Petit  Versailles."  Did 
it  exchange  this  sentimental  name  for  the  more  prosaic 
one  of  the  Brewery  when  it  passed  from  the  Frenchman 
to  the  English  Thomas  Shuhrick? 

The  rest  of  the  tract  was  sold  the  following  March 
by  Gadsden  to  "  Capt.  George  Anson  then  a  commander 
of  his  ^Majesty's  ship  Scarborough."  In  174<7  Captain 
(then  I^ord)  Anson  conveyed  to  Jermyn  Wright  23)^ 
acres  with  the  marsh-land  as  far  as  low-water  mark, 
retaining  the  land  to  the  westward,  which  later  became 
Ansonboro.  We  will  first  follow  the  fate  of  that  por- 
tion laid  out  as  Ansonboro  in  lf4fG  by  George  Hunter, 
Surveyor  General. 

The  plat  describes  it  as  that  portion  of  the  plantation 
formerly  known  as  the  Bowling  Green.  It  bounds  to 
the  north  on  Wraggboro  and  on  the  marsh,  now  the  east 
end  of  Boundary  or  Calhoun  Street ;  on  the  west  by  the 
Broad  Path,  now  King  Street;  on  the  south  by  Khctts- 
bury;  to  the  east  on  the  new  streets  called  Anson  and 
Scarborough  Streets,  which  divided  it  from  the  portion 
afterwards  sold  to  John  Rattray  and  by  liim  to  Chris- 
topher Gadsden  and  Henry  Laurens  respectively. 

The  five  streets  provided  for  in  Hunter's  Plat  were 
named,  1st  and  2nd,  George  Street  and  Anson  Street, 
both  destined  to  survive;  3rd,  Squirrel  Street,  which  has 
been  absor})ed  by  Meeting  Street  as  it  was  extended 
northward;  -ith,  Scarborough  Street,  which  was  an  ex- 
tension of  Anson  after  passing  George  Street;  5th, 
Centurion  Street,  which  later  became  the  eastern  end 
of  Society  Street.     George  and  Anson  were  the  names 

i8i 


ANSONBOROUGH,  LAURENS  SQUARE,  ETC. 

of  the  great  sailor  who  had  just  circumnavigated  the 
world;  the  Centurion  was  the  famous  ship  in  which  he 
made  that  famous  voyage;  the  Scarborough  was  the  ship 
to  the  command  of  which  he  was  appointed  in  1723-1724, 
and  in  which  he  was  long  stationed  on  this  coast;  the 
Squirrel  was  his  second  ship,  also  sent  to  the  coast  of 
Carolina.  Does  it  not  seem  a  pity  that  these  names,  con- 
necting the  career  of  a  great  man  with  this  city,  should 
have  been  disused  and  forgotten? 

The  part  of  Lord  Anson's  tract  east  of  Anson  Street, 
which  was  conveyed  in  174-7,  was  reconveyed  to  Anson 
in  1756 ;  whereupon  the  latter  in  1757  ( see  ^SICO  RR  522 
and  VV  12)  sold  the  same,  called  twenty  acres  of  high- 
land and  twenty  acres  of  marsh,  to  John  Rattray ;  this 
comprised  the  Laurens  tract  and  that  of  General  Gads- 
den to  the  north  of  it.  For  Rattray  on  April  19,  1758, 
sold  to  Gadsden  all  that  portion  that  lies  north  of  the 
present  Laurens  Street  and  south  of  Calhoun  and  East 
of  Anson,  and  later  to  Henry  Laurens  that  part  lying 
between  Centurion  (later  Society)  Street  and  Laurens 
Street. 

An  old  dilapidated  plat  without  a  date  is  reproduced 
in  the  Year  Book  of  1880.  This  shows  on  it  that  Gads- 
den laid  out  the  village  of  ^Middlesex  on  his  land,  but  a 
plat  of  Purcell's  of  a  later  date  shows  the  property 
divided  into  six  wharf  lots  and  197  back  lots.  Gadsden's 
enerffv  and  enterprise  had  filled  the  marsh  and  added 
this  great  area  to  the  town.  He  had  also  straightened 
the  creek  between  him  and  :Mazyckboro  by  digging  a 
canal  for  the  use  of  both  properties  from  Anson's  Land- 


283 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

ing  on  the  creek  to  the  river.  This  landing  was  about 
where  Washington  Street  crosses  Calhoun  Street  of 
to-day.  The  wide  space  on  Calhoun  Street  between 
East  Bay  and  Washington  Street  was  the  site  of  a 
market  to  be  built  at  the  head  of  General  Gadsden's 
canal. 

The  names  of  the  streets  in  Middlesex  do  not  sur- 
vive; but  just  as  Anson's  naval  service  was  intended  to 
be  commemorated  in  Ansonboro,  so  Gadsden's  political 
leanings  are  clearly  shown  in  Virginia,  Pitt,  Wilkes, 
jNIassachusetts  Streets,  Corsican  Walk  and  Hand-in- 
Hand  Corner.  We  can  contrast  these  names  with  those 
found  in  Wraggboro  just  to  the  north  of  Boundary, 
where  we  meet  ]Mr.  Wragg's  sons  and  daughters  in 
Elizabeth,  Charlotte,  John,  Alexander,  Mary  and  Ann, 
Henrietta  and  Judith. 

The  part  acquired  by  Henry  Laurens  was  soon 
utilized  by  him;  for  here  he  built  his  home,  "  where 
Wright's  Spring  was  in  the  marsh  near  to  Lord  An- 
son's." In  this  letter,  dated  May  26,  1768,  he  adds:  "  I 
have  now  a  large,  elegant  brick  house  of  sixty  feet  by 
thirty-eight  built  there  and  I  have  damm'd  in  four  acres 
of  marsh."  He  adds,  "  I  now  live  in  the  middle  of  a 
garden  of  four  acres  pleasantly  situated  upon  the  River 
near  to  the  Old  Brew  House.  ^Irs.  Laurens  takes  great 
delight  in  gardening — " 

This  garden  is  descril)ed  by  Ramsay  in  his  "  History 
of  South  Carolina,"  as  follows  (Ramsay,  vol.  ii,  228)  : 
"  About  the  year  1755  Henry  Laurens  purchased  a  lot 
"  of  four  acres  in  Ansonboro,  which  is  now  called  Laurens 

284 


ANSONBOROUGH,  LAURENS  SQUARE,  ETC. 

"  Square,  and  enriched  it  with  everything  useful  and 
"  ornamental  that  Carolina  produced  or  his  extensive 
"  mercantile  connexions  enabled  him  to  procure  from 
"  remote  parts  of  the  world.  Among  the  variety  of  other 
"  curious  productions  he  introduced  olives,  capers,  limes, 
"  ginger,  guinea  grass,  the  Alpine  straw-berry,  bearing 
"  nine  months  in  the  year,  red  raspberries,  blue  grapes; 
"  and  also  directly  from  the  South  of  France  apples, 
"  pears,  and  plums  of  fine  kinds,  and  vines  which  bore 
"  abundantly  of  the  choicest  white  eating  grape  called 
"  Chasselats  blancs." 

Laurens  had  built  his  house  on  the  eastern  edge  of 
the  highland  of  his  property,  and  on  the  east  side  of 
Front  Street,  now^  absorbed  by  East  Bay.  The  square 
on  the  West  side,  bounded  by  Laurens,  East  Bay,  Cen- 
turion, and  Anson  Streets,  was  laid  out  in  building  lots 
in  1804f  by  his  son,  jNIr.  Henry  Laurens,  while  the  marsh- 
land to  the  east  lay  for  many  years  comparatively  un- 
improved except  for  w^harves  on  the  immediate  water 
front.  Within  a  year  the  house  has  been  pulled  down, 
and  the  whole  marsh  area  is  now  the  scene  of  the  restless 
activities  of  a  railway  terminal.  The  house  that  Laurens 
built  was  of  an  older  type  than  others  of  the  same  period. 
It  was  a  solidly  built  brick  house  of  two  stories,  wath  a 
high  and  hipped  roof  and  with  piazzas  to  the  south  and 
east.  The  windows  were  small  and,  though  covering 
a  good  deal  of  ground,  the  house  looked  rather  the 
comfortable  house  of  its  period  than  imposing. 

Of  the  Laurens  men  of  tlie  Revolution  we  need  say 
notliing  here.     Their  deeds  are  written  largely  in  his- 

285 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

torv;  and  the  very  name  of  Henry  Laurens  seems  to 
the  imaginative  American  hnked  with  the  Tower  of 
London,  while  that  of  his  son,  Col.  John  Laurens,  seems 
to  bring  to  mind  the  brilliant  French  Court  and  a  jew- 
elled snufF-box,  the  gift  of  its  King. 

In  the  Laurens  letter  (1768),  already  (juoted,  he 
makes  an  interesting  allusion  to  the  South  Carolina 
Society  which  deserves  to  be  here  given:  "  The  South 


^-'JaZ^'^^?^^ 


HOUSE  BUILT  BY  HENRY  I^\URENS  IN  1763.    RECENTLY  IM  I.LKI)  DOWN 

Carolina  Society  increases  daily  ...  I  had  much  diffi- 
culty about  eight  years  ago  to  persuade  the  members 
to  purchase  the  old  Brew  House  land  for  £500  sterling 
.  .  .  now  that  land  would  sell  for  above  Four  thousand 
pounds  sterling  .  .  .  all  this  land  about  Ansonboro  is 
covered  with  fine  houses,"  etc. 

This  "  old  Hrew  House  land  "  was  the  Petit  Ver- 
sailles of  JjQ  Brasseur,  and  with  several  adjacent  lots 
of  Ansonboro  was  bought  by  the  South  Carolina  So- 

286 


Vj     ,  ■    .  .... 

"All         ■^•''^ 


copyright,  lUUj,  by  Frederiik  Kairchild  Slierman,  "Art  in  America'' 

HOUSE  OF  NATHANIEL  HEYWARD,  BUILT  ABOUT  1788.     RECENTLY  PULLED  DOWN 


yH 

%*?i 


Ai^ 


BOW  OF  NATHANIEL  HEYWARD  HOUSE.  WITH  KITCHEN  BEYOND 


19 


ANSONHOROUGII,  LAURENS  SQUARE,  ETC. 

cicty  in  1751)  for  £8500  money  of  the  province.  As 
tliis  currency  liad  depreciated  to  the  ecjuivalent  of  about 
se\  en  to  one.  it  is  easy  to  reco^-nize  in  it  I. aureus'  amount 
of  £500  sterhno-.  The  total  area  of  the  purchase  was 
nearly  six  acres.  The  continuous  streets  bearing  the 
various  names,  Centurion,  Society,  and  Federal,  yielded 
to  the  prepotency  of  the  Society's  name,  and  are  now 
called  Society  Street  throughout. 

Of  the  fine  houses  alluded  to  by  Laurens  many  were 
doubtless  destroyed  in  the  extensive  fires  of  1835  and 
1838  and  others.  Probably  these  fires  aided  the  march 
of  fashion  into  other  quarters  of  the  town,  for  already 
the  pressure  of  increasing  commerce  was  checking  the 
erection  of  more  important  dwellings  on  the  east  side. 
Yet  there  resulted  from  all  of  this  the  queer  groupings 
which  may  be  seen  in  all  old  towns.  Small  islands  of 
nice  houses  spared  by  these  disasters  have  been  sur- 
rounded by  the  lesser  ones  which  replaced  their  neigh- 
bors, and  a  stranger  passing  through  somewhat  mean 
streets  is  surprised  suddenly  to  come  upon  dwellings  of 
greater  pretension. 

This  result  was  furtlier  fostered  by  the  ways  of  the 
older  group  of  inhabitants,  who  loved  to  cling  to  local- 
ities hallowed  by  associations  with  a  past.  Another 
quaint  effect  which  strikes  visitors  from  brand-new 
towns,  laid  out  to  scale,  is  the  curious  way  in  which  the 
streets  of  these  old  and  separated  settlements  were 
eventually  connected  by  the  constant  growth  of  the 
greater  town  which  absorbed  them ;  oi-  else  stopped  short 
a  half  square  away  from  what  were  their  practical  con- 
tinuations. 

291 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CH.VRLESTON 

In  tlic  western  part  of  Ansonboro,  where  fleeting 
(once  S(juirrel)  and  George  Streets  corner,  are  still  to 
be  found  a  number  of  residences,  most  of  them  the  typical 
single-house  so  often  described,  but  in  many  cases  larger 
and  handsomer  tlian  the  earlier  ones  elsewhere  in  that 
style.  Most  of  these  seem  to  have  been  built  about  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  or  early  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
Among  them  is  the  house  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
Meeting  and  George  Streets  now  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Henry  S.  Holmes.  This  was  built  for  himself  by 
Gabriel  INIanigault,  the  brother  of  the  Joseph  ]Manigault 
who  built  Mr.  Kiggs'  house  in  Wraggboro,  already  de- 
scribed. This  house  was  long  the  residence  of  ]Mr.  James 
S.  Gibbes,  whose  bequest  made  possible  the  erection  of 
the  Gibbes  Art  Gallery  on  ^Meeting  Street,  which  sup- 
plied a  pressing  need  in  the  development  of  the  town. 

INIr.  Holmes'  house  is  of  cypress  on  a  high  brick 
basement,  entered  by  a  flight  of  stone  steps.  The  halls 
and  staircase  on  the  north  of  the  house  are  especially 
noticeable  for  their  good  j)roportions,  and  the  broad 
garden  to  the  south  with  its  high  brick  wall  adds  to  the 
completeness  of  the  "  messuage." 

One  looks  at  this  and  at  a  number  of  older  wooden 
houses  still  in  excellent  presentation  with  a  certain  feel- 
ing of  sadness  over  the  complete  change  to-day  in  the 
material  of  construction  here.  Of  woods,  gone  are  the 
cypress  and  the  mahogany!  The  yellow  pine  with  its 
hard  heart  is  becoming  rare,  and  is  sawn  into  planks 
indiscriminately  with  its  weaker  cousin  the  "  lioblolly." 
The  hardwood  trees  are  too  valuable  to  be  used  in  the 

292 


ANSONBOROUGH,  LAURENS  SQUARE,  ETC. 

frames  and  panellings  of  houses,  but  are  shaved  by 
veneer-cutters  into  thin  layers  which  are  made  to  assume 
a  merit  though  they  have  it  not. 

The  method  of  lining  these  old  houses  too  is  no  longer 
followed.  When  the  weather-boarding  and  the  inside 
plastering  of  one  of  them  is  taken  off,  the  spaces  between 
the  parts  of  the  heavy  frame  are  found  built  up  with 
brick-work  to  exclude  the  heat  in  summer  and  the  cold 
in  winter.  The  tarred  paper,  much  used  to-day  for 
lining,  does  not  seem  an  improvement,  though  doubtless 
cheaper. 

At  the  northwest  corner  of  Society  and  Meeting 
Streets  still  stands  the  residence  of  Alexander  Shirras, 
whose  will  was  proved  in  November,  1811.  He  devised 
his  house  to  trustees  to  be  occupied  as  a  dispensary,  and 
it  is  still  held  by  this  trust.  He  was  one  of  the  large 
group  of  Scotch  merchants,  who  from  the  early  days  of 
the  colony  were  important  aids  to  its  prosperity.  Among 
other  beneficent  bequests  Mr.  Shirras  left  one  thousand 
dollars  to  be  used  in  the  purchase  of  books  for  the  school 
at  Old-deer  near  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  where  he  had  re- 
ceived the  rudiments  of  his  education. 


MAZYCKBORO,  WRAGGBORO,  THE  CITA- 
DEL, THE  ORPHAN  HOUSE,  AND  THE 
FREE  SCHOOL  LAND 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MAZYCK1K)K(),   WKAGG150R0,   THE   ClTxV- 

DEL,  THE  ORPHAX  HOUSE,  AND  THE 

FREE  SCHOOL  LAND 

1^  BO\^E  Aiisonboro  lay  \\'raggboro  and  IMazyck- 

LJL     boro,  which  were  separated  from  it  and  from 

1       V  Gadsden's  land  in  early  days  by  a  creek  and 

marsh.     When  filled  up,  Boundary  Street  was  there 

opened,  which  became  Calhoun  Street  in  1849  when  the 

city  limits  were  extended.     Wraggboro  was  bounded 

to  the  west  by  the  Broad  Path,  or  King  Street,  and 

to  the  north  by  the  tract  which  became  the  site  of  the 

village  of  Hampstead,  from  which  it  is  to-day  divided 

by  ^lary  Street.     ^lazyckboro  lies  at  the  east  end  of 

Calhoun  Street  between  Elizabeth  Street  and  the  water. 

Boundary  Street  followed,  nearly  to  King  Street, 

the  marsh  drained  by  Gadsden's  Creek  at  its  eastern 

end,  and  another  bold  creek  drained  these  two  borouo^hs 

o 

and  a  part  of  Hampstead.  A  branch  of  this  last  headed 
up  west  of  King  between  Ann  and  John  Streets.  The 
large  area  of  marsh,  bordering  this  creek  and  Hamp- 
stead Creek  to  the  north  of  it,  has  long  since  been  filled 
up,  and  the  eastern  edge  is  lined  with  wharves  and 
occupied  by  railroad  yards.  The  old  line  and  ware- 
houses of  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  have  taken  up  the 
central  part  of  the  blocks  of  Wraggboro  between  fleet- 
ing and  King,  leaving,  however,  a  line  of  houses  on  botli 
streets. 

Soon  after  tlie  borough  was  laid  out  tlie  ])uil(ling  of 

297 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

houses  began,  especially  upon  the  higher  ground.  Among 
them  were  a  number  of  fine  houses  built  at  different 
dates.  Mr.  Joseph  ^Nlanigault,  the  son  of  Elizabeth 
Wragg,  between  1790  and  1800  built  the  house  already 
described  at  the  corner  of  John  and  Meeting  Streets; 
and  soon  after  1825  Mr.  Francis  ^Vithers  built  nearly 
opposite  to  it  the  handsome  residence  which  has  met  the 
unhappy  fate  of  having  been  crushed  in  the  embraces 
of  the  bagging  factory  to  the  west  and  south  of  it. 

On  the  corner  of  Judith  and  Elizabeth  Streets  stands 
the  large  house  of  ^Irs.  Burnet  Rhett,  whose  father, 
Governor  ^Villiam  Aiken,  long  resided  in  it,  having  im- 
proved and  added  considerably  to  the  original  house. 
The  extensive  grounds  run  northward  to  Mary  Street. 
Judith  Street  as  originally  laid  out  ran  eastwardly  from 
Governor  Aiken's  house  until  it  reached  the  marsh,  where 
it  turned  to  the  southeast  and,  crossing  it,  ended  in 
Chapel  Street  opposite  to  where  Alexander  Street  ended. 
For  reasons  best  known  to  the  autliorities  the  name  of 
this  end  of  Judith  Street  has  been  changed  to  xVlexandcr. 

In  1832  ^Nlr.  Elias  Vanderhorst  bought  the  lot  on 
the  western  corner  and  his  descendants  still  own  his 
house  upon  it.  Built  upon  a  very  high  basement,  a 
double  flight  of  stone  steps  lead  to  the  piazza,  upon 
which  the  entrance  door  opens.  These  steps,  with  tlieir 
iron  railing  in  a  setting  of  green  trees,  are  seen  tln-ough 
an  iron  gate  and  fence,  and  the  whole  presents  a  hand- 
some appearance  from  the  street. 

West  of  the  large  grounds  of  the  Vanderhorst  house 
stands  a  wooden  house  of  two  stories,  built  also  on  a 
high  basement  and  entered  by  a  flight  of  steps  up  to  the 

298 


MAZYCKBORO,  WRAGGBORO,  THE  CITADEL,  ETC. 

piazza  which  runs  around  a  bow  on  each  side  of  the 
doorway.  At  the  back  of  the  hall  the  staircase  rises  in 
two  flights  to  a  landing  where  they  unite,  and  ascend  to 
the  next  floor  in  a  single  flight.  This  house  was  owned 
until  1863  by  the  widow  of  Dr.  Henry  V.  Toomer,  whose 
father,  Dr.  Anthony  Vanderhorst  Toomer,  had  bought, 


STAIRCASE  IX  HOUSE  BUILT  BY  DR.  TOOMER 

in  1809,  from  ^Irs.  Ann  Ferguson,  born  Wragg,  the 
lot  just  west  of  it,  and  probably  built  this  house  as 
wxll  as  the  one  next  to  it.  A  reversal  of  the  staircase 
just  spoken  of  is  to  be  seen  in  a  handsome  house  in 
Harleston  at  the  corner  of  Ashley  Avenue  (formerly 
Lynch  Street)  and  Wentworth  Street,  now  the  resi- 
dence of  the  ^Misses  Brown.  In  this  the  staircase  rises 
in  a  single  flight  from  the  hall,  and  at  the  landing  divides 
and  ascends  to  the  next  story  in  two  flights. 

299 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Mall  Governor  Aiken  built 
a  row  of  two-story  square  brick  houses  which  used  to  be 
called  Aiken's  Row.  This  Mall  and  Wragg  Square 
to  the  south  of  it  were  given  to  the  public  by  the  Wragg 
family  when  the  borough  was  laid  out. 


STAIKCASE  IN  UESIDEXCE  Ol-  THE  MISSES  BHUNYN,  BLILT  18ti0 

To  the  east  of  Wragg  Square  stands  the  Second 
Presbyterian  (or  Flynn's)  Church,  and  Charlotte 
Street,  which  runs  along  the  southern  edge,  is  lined  with 
handsome  houses.  It  was  not  until  1849  that  the  limits 
of    the    city    were    extended    to    include    oNIazyckboro, 

300 


MAZYCKBORO,  WRAGGBORO,  THE  CITADEL,  ETC. 

Wraggboro,    Cannonsboro,    Radcliffeboro    and    other 
settlements  on  the  Xeck. 

From  the  minutes  of  the  Commissioners  of  Fortifica- 
tions, July  20,  1758,  we  learn  that  Mr.  INIanigault  and 
^Ir.  Wragg  delivered  "  Titles  for  the  land  where  the 
"  new  Fortifications   are   Carrying  on,   The   Commis- 
"  sioners  thereupon  passed  the   following  Orders  for 
"  payment  of  the  same,  No.  1292  in  fav'r  of  Peter  Mani- 
"  gault  for  6^4  acres  on  the  West  side  of  the  Road  £632- 
"  10  No.  1293  in  favor  of  John  Wragg  for  8^  acres  on 
"  the  East  side  £1232-10."    These  "  new  Fortifications  " 
included  the  Horn-work,   otherwise   called  the   Town 
Gate,  through  which  the  Broad  Road  passed  into  the 
country.     A  remnant  of  this  remains  on  the  parade 
ground  to-day  protected  by  an  iron  railing.     When 
Sir  Henry  Clinton  invested  Charles  Town  in  1780,  it 
was  in  front  of  this  Horn- work  that  ^Major  Benjamin 
Huger  of  the  5th  South  Carolina  Continentals  was  killed 
as  he  was  returning  from  a  reconnaissance. 

The  first  parcel  of  6^  acres  is  to-day  the  entire 
square  on  a  part  of  which  the  Orphan  House  stands. 

The  second  is  the  square  between  Hutson  (now 
miscalled  Hudson)  Street  and  Boundary  Street.  Of 
the  latter  the  City  Council  sold  in  1789  to  Commissioners, 
appointed  by  the  State,  the  northern  strip  on  which  the 
Citadel  now  stands  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  public 
warehouses  for  the  inspection  of  tobacco.  This  was 
bounded  at  the  south  by  a  street  called  Tobacco  Street, 
which  in  1882  was  thrown  into  the  square  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  sidewalk  on  the  south  of  the  Citadel.  This 
was  kept  as  a  passage-way  for  the  public. 

301 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

111  1822  a  ne^ro  insurrection  led  by  Denmark  Vesey 
and  "  Gullah  Jack  "  was  crushed  in  its  incipiency.  By 
tliat  time  the  production  of  tobacco  had  so  far  decreased 
that  the  Legislature  decided  to  convert  the  Inspection 
buildings  into  a  guard  house  and  arsenal,  and  to  main- 
tain there  a  force  of  at  least  1,50  men  to  be  enlisted  for 
five  years.  These  did  not  supplant  the  city  police,  but 
were  to  patrol  the  boroughs  and  country  beyond  the 
boundary  on  what  was  called  the  "  Neck."  This  arsenal 
was  almost  immediately  called  "  The  Citadel,"  which 
name  it  retains  to-day. 

In  1842  Gov.  John  Peter  Richardson  induced  the 
Legislature  to  substitute  for  this  guard  a  military  school. 
The  building  has  been  from  time  to  time  enlarged  to 
meet  the  growing  needs  of  this  militaiy  academy,  whose 
usefulness  to  the  State  has  been  shown  again  and  again. 
For  here  were  educated  many  of  the  men  who  were  to 
lead  in  the  war  of  1861-1865,  and  the  roll  is  a  long  one 
of  those  who  laid  down  their  lives  in  the  service  of  their 
country.  The  first  gun  of  the  war  was  fired  by  a  detach- 
ment of  these  cadets,  when  the  "  Star  of  the  AVest  "  was 
turned  back  in  the  attempt  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter. 
JNIany  times  was  this  corps  used  to  reinforce  temporarily 
the  sparse  troops  holding  this  coast,  and  under  fire  they 
well  maintained  their  reputation. 

The  Citadel  Square  was  long  held  as  a  j)arade  and 
drill-ground  for  the  Fourth  Brigade  of  ^Nlilitia.  At  the 
fall  of  Charleston  in  February,  1865,  the  Citadel  was 
occupied  by  the  Federals  as  barracks,  and  held  by  them 
for  seventeen  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  Acad- 
emy was  reopened.     Thus  from  its  occupation  l)y  the 

302 


MAZYCKBORO,  WRAGGBORO,  THE  CITADEL,  ETC. 

Commissioners  of  Fortifications,  which  preceded  the  pur- 
chase in  1758,  until  to-day  it  has  been  the  centre  of 
mihtary  activity  in  the  town,  and  in  warfare  and  peace 
has  constantly  witnessed  the  parade  and  assembhng  of 
armed  forces. 

The  square  on  the  west  of  King  Street  as  far  as 
St.  Philip's  Street,  which  had  also  been  used  for  the 
fortifications  of  the  Horn-work,  had  a  fate  in  sharp  con- 
trast with  the  other.  Here  in  1792  was  placed  the 
Orphan  House,  which  has  ever  since  remained  the  pride 
of  Charleston,  for  there  have  been  in  the  history  of  its 
management  many  chapters  to  the  honor  of  the  place 
and  not  one  to  its  discredit.  Already  in  1819  Dr.  Shecut 
was  able  to  say  of  it  that  "  within  its  walls  hundreds 
have  been  matured  to  usefulness,  many  to  importance, 
and  a  few  to  high  honour  in  the  State."  Xearly  a  century 
has  passed  since  this  was  written,  and  these  words  have 
but  gained  greater  truth  and  force  as  the  years  have 
passed. 

On  the  south  side  of  Boundary  Street,  a  square  to 
the  west  of  the  Orphan  House,  lay  the  Free  School 
lands.  On  Hunter's  map,  which  purports  to  have  been 
published  in  1739,  these  are  shown  to  the  north  of  St. 
Philip's  Glebe.  McCrady's  "  South  Carolina  Under 
the  Proprietary  Government,"  pages  487-488,  511-512, 
gives  from  the  Statutes  an  interesting  account  of  the 
establishment  of  this  school  by  the  Act  of  1709-1710, 
and  occasional  mention  of  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  wills 
of  the  subsequent  period.  The  tract  acquired  by  the 
Commissioners  of  the  Free  School  was  a  large  one,  and 
there  remained  of  it  in  1817  all  the  land  bounded  by 
Boundary,  St.  Philip's,  George,  and  Coming  Streets, 
of  which  George  Street  separated  it  from  the  Glebe. 

20  505 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

In  view  of  the  inoderii  discussion  about  education 
it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  tlie  master  was  to  be 
known  "  by  the  name  and  stile  of  Praeceptor  or  Teacher 
of  Grammar  and  other  the  Arts  and  Sciences  " ;  that  he 
should  be  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  be  capable  "  to 
teach  the  learned  languages,  that  is  to  say,  the  Latin 
and  Greek  tongues,  and  also  the  useful  parts  of  the 
mathematicks."  Tliese  last  apparently  were  "  vulgar 
arithmetic  and  merchant's  accounts  as  well  as  navigation 
and  surveying." 

From  the  tombstone,  in  St.  Philip's  churchyard,  of 
the  Rev.  John  Lambert,  who  died  in  1729,  we  learn  that 
he  was  "  late  JNIaster  Preceptor  and  Teaclier  of  Gram- 
mer  and  other  Arts  and  Sciences  Tauglit  in  the  fkee 
SCHOOL  at  Charlstown  (sic)  for  ye  Province  of  South 
Carolina  and  Afternoon  lecturer  of  This  Parish." 

The  long  list  of  Commissioners  was  headed  by  the 
name  of  Governor  Tynte,  and  included  the  rectors  of 
St.  Philip's  and  of  St.  James'  Parish,  Goose  Creek,  and 
all  of  them  were  men  of  importance  in  the  colony.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  by  17o7  the  use  of  the  building  as 
a  schoolhouse  had  been  discontinued,  for  we  find  Gov- 
ernor Lyttleton  on  October  14,  1757,  instructing  the 
Commissioners  of  Fortifications  to  proceed  to  erect  on 
these  grounds,  barracks  sufficient  to  contain  one  thousand 
men,  and  in  November  they  proceeded  to  repair  the 
"  old  Free  School  House  for  the  reception  of  Officers." 
These  must  not  be  confused  with  the  older  brick  bar- 
racks for  500  men  built  upon  the  old  burying  ground 
near  the  magazine,  which  stood  where  the  gaol  is  to-day 
(191(5),  and  wliicli  were  repaired  and  iin})r()ved  at  the 
same  time. 

soe 


MAZYCKBORO,  WRAGGBORO,  THE  CITADEL,  ETC. 

Henceforward  until  after  the  Revolution  this  site 
was  occupied  for  military  purposes,  and  the  educational 
uses  seem  to  have  been  abandoned  for  a  time.  There 
was  a  battalion  of  the  Royal  Americans,  a  famous 
English  regiment,  forming  part  of  the  garrison  of 
Charles  To^\'n,  and  Lieutenant  Hesse,  of  this  regiment, 
was  employed  as  engineer  in  charge  of  the  building  of 
the  defences.  The  battalion  was  commanded  by  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bouquet,  whose  fame  was  steadily  in- 
creased and  developed  by  his  services  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War  of  the  period.  At  least  two  native-born 
Carolinians  served  then  in  this  regiment.  One  was 
Thomas  Pinckney,  who  was  wounded  on  the  Plains  of 
Abraham  when  jNIontcalm  was  defeated  there.  Having 
been  commissioned  in  1756,  he  served  throughout  the 
war,  taking  part  also  in  the  siege  and  capture  of  Louis- 
bom-g,  of  ^lartinique,  and  of  Havana.  Broken  in  health, 
he  died  in  1770,  on  the  plantation  at  Ashepoo,  long  the 
property  of  his  family.  The  other  man  was  Isaac  ^lotte, 
whose  career  has  already  been  given. 

This  famous  regiment  still  exists  in  the  British  Ser- 
vice, where  it  is  now  a  part  of  the  King's  Royal  Rifle 
Corps,  and  its  history  has  been  well  written  by  Captain 
Lewis  Butler,  published  in  1913  by  Smith,  Elder  &  Co., 
London. 

The  friction  between  the  military  and  civil  author* 
ities  is  amusingly  shown  by  contrasting  the  different 
points  of  view  found  in  this  book  and  in  the  Journal  of 
the  Commissioners  of  Fortifications. 

In  Sir  Henry  Clinton's  map  in  "  Neptune,"  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1780,  these  barracks  on  the  Free 

807 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

School  land  are  to  be  found  designated  as  "  Barracks 
for  1000  men,"  while  near  the  Powder  ISIagazine  on  the 
"  Burying  Ground  "  is  marked  the  site  of  "  Barracks 
for  500  men." 

In  1785  the  Free  School  land  was  restored  to  educa- 
tional uses,  for  in  that  year  the  College  of  Charleston 
was  chartered,  and  the  Free  School  lands  given  to  it. 
Fraser,  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"  tells  us  that  the  eastern 
building  of  the  old  brick  barracks  was  repaired  for  the 
purpose  and  the  use  of  it  commenced  in  1791 ;  and  that 
he  himself  was  a  student  there  in  1792,  when  the  college 
boys  took  part  in  the  procession  and  listened  to  an  ad- 
dress by  their  principal,  Rev.  Ur.  Smith,  at  the  laying 
of  the  cornerstone  of  the  Orphan  House,  where  Dr. 
Smith  stood  on  the  declivity  of  the  old  ramparts  with 
John  Huger,  the  Intendant,  by  his  side.  Digging  into 
these  ramparts  for  bullets,  expended  in  the  siege  of  1780, 
was,  he  tells  us,  an  anuisement  of  the  students. 

A  plat  recorded  in  1817  shows  the  college  lands  as 
they  were  laid  out  in  building  lots,  ^vith  the  "  square  of 
land  reserved  for  the  college  showing  the  buildings  and 
other  improvements  thereon  of  brick  and  covered  with 
tiles,"  etc.  These  buildings  were  evidently  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  ])arracks  so  often  mentioned. 

The  cornerstone  of  the  new  edifice  was  laid  on 
January  12,  1828,  when  Mr.  Charles  Fraser  delivered 
the  address.  There  is  a  copy  of  this  address  in  the 
Charleston  Library  showing  a  print  of  the  proposed 
building,  wliicli  names  as  the  architect  W.  Strickhind. 
In  comparing  this  with  the  existing  building,  the  altera- 
tions in  the  plan  are  easily  recognized. 

308 


THE  GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AXD  THE 
VILLAGE  OF  HARLESTOX 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  THE 
VILLAGE  OF  HARLESTON 

THE  Glebe  land  lay  next  south  of  the  Free 
School  land,  divided  from  it  by  George  Street. 
The  history  of  this  as  a  separate  parcel  of  land 
bemns  on  December  10, 1698,  when  :Mrs.  AfFra  Coming, 
widow  of  Capt.  John  Coming,  made  a  deed  of  gift  of 
seventeen  acres  of  land  to  the  :Minister  of  the  Clmrch  of 
England  in  Charles  Town,  ^Nlr.  Samuel  IVIarshall,  and 
to  his  successors  in  office  forever.  This  was  a  part  of 
the  grant  to  John  Coming  in  1675,  only  five  years  after 
the  first  arrival  of  the  colony.  (jMCO,  Book  G-3,  p. 
462. )  A  plat  by  the  Surveyor  General,  John  Culpepper, 
shows  this  grant  to  hold  133  acres,  extending  from  the 
Ashley  to  the  Cooper   (or  Ettawan)   River. 

From  the  Proceedings  of  the  Grand  Council,  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1671-1672,  it  is  apparent  that  Coming  was 
even  then  in  possession  under  the  warrant,  for  he  then 
surrendered  the  half  of  his  land  on  Oyster  Point  as  a 
part  of  the  site  of  the  proposed  new  town,  which  land, 
however,  was  shortly  afterwards  again  relinquished  to 
him. 

How  the  eastern  part  of  the  tract  passed  from  the 
Comings  or  their  heirs  is  not  now  known,  nor  is  it  known 
when  or  how  the  Free  School  tract,  presumably  a  part 
of  it,  passed  to  the  Commissioners;  but  the  part  west  of 

311 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

Coming  Street  and  south  of  Calhoun  Street  long  re- 
mained in  the  possession  of  ^Irs.  Coming's  nephew,  John 
Harleston,  and  of  his  descendants,  and  continued  to  be 
called  Coming's  Point. 

In  1770  an  act  was  passed  to  open  streets  through 
this  and  through  the  Glebe  land,  according  to  a  plan  sub- 
mitted by  the  owners.  This  Harleston  tract  had  already 
become  known  as  Harleston-borough  or  the  village  of 
Harleston,  as  we  know  from  the  will  of  John  Harleston 
(second  of  the  name)  dated  1767.  He  tells  us  there 
that  he  had  agreed  with  his  brothers,  Nicholas  and  Ed- 
ward, to  lay  out  the  same  into  lots. 

At  that  time  the  boundary  line  of  Charles  Town 
ran,  as  we  see  from  Hunter's  map,  in  a  straight  line 
across  the  peninsula  south  of  Rhett's  Point,  the  Glebe 
land,  and  Coming's  Point,  following  the  line  of  Beau- 
fain  Street  of  to-day. 

From  1698  to  1770  the  Rector  of  St.  Philip's  seems 
to  have  been  left  in  undisturbed  possession  of  his  Glebe, 
upon  which  he  resided.  This  residence  was  upon  the  lot 
at  what  is  now  the  corner  of  St.  Philips  and  Beaufain 
Streets  where  the  Memminger  School  now  stands  (1916) 
(]MCO,  C-9,  160),  The  same  act  ordered  the  building 
of  a  new  parsonage  house  on  four  acres  to  be  retained 
for  the  purpose,  the  rest  of  the  Glebe  to  be  laid  out  in 
building  lots.  The  reserved  four  acres  lay  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  St.  Philip's  and  Wentworth  Streets,  ex- 
tending on  the  latter  nearly  to  Coming  Street.  About 
the  centre  of  these  four  acres  were  built  the  existing 
parsonage  and  its  outbuildings.     The  entrance  to  its 

3H 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

grounds  was  on  Wentworth  Street.  But  the  place  was 
soon  to  be  despoiled  of  its  fair  proportions,  for  in  1797 
lots  were  laid  out  both  on  St.  Philip's  Street  and  on 
Wentworth,  leaving  the  house  only  a  frontage  of  131  ^^ 
feet  on  the  latter,  with  a  large  parallelogram  in  the 
middle  of  the  square  at  its  back. 

When  Glebe  Street  was  opened,  there  was  a  further 
curtailment,  land  having  been  taken  from  it  both  to  the 
south  and  west,  leaving  the  great  brick  house  as  it  now 
stands  close  to  the  new  Glebe  Street,  and  with  its  en- 
trance therefrom. 

Upon  the  western  part  stand  Grace  Church  on  Went- 
worth Street  and  the  Blount  Zion  African  Methodist 
Church  on  Glebe  Street.  The  greater  part  of  the  land 
between  Wentworth  and  Beaufain  was  assigned  to 
St.  Michael's  Church  by  a  partition  deed  in  1797. 

The  house  dates,  therefore,  from  about  1770;  and 
both  it  and  the  outbuildings  are  solidly  built  of  the  hard 
grey-brown  Carolina  brick.  A  square  house  of  three 
stories,  it  is  entered  from  the  garden  by  a  massive  brick 
flight  of  steps,  springing  with  a  double  arch  to  the 
second  story  without  porch  or  piazza.  The  keynote  of 
the  house  is  solidity  and  simplicity.  Heav}^  as  these 
steps  are,  they  are  also  very  graceful  in  line.  In  com- 
parison with  similar  houses  of  its  day  the  door  is  re- 
markable as  being  absolutely  plain,  without  side-lights 
or  ornamentation,  and  is  arched  and  rather  narrow.  This 
perhaps  adds  to  the  character  of  the  steps.  The  steps 
at  the  back  of  the  house  are  marked  in  their  individuality. 
Also  of  brick,  they  too  spring  to  the  second  story  on 

313 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

arches,  but  are  narrow  and  descend  sideways  against 
the  wall  of  the  house.  As  usual  in  this  style  of  house 
the  hall  goes  through  the  house  from  one  entrance 
to  the  other,  holding  in  it,  at  the  back,  the  staircase. 


■  -^-  -JS^-5"-  - 


■  "jaC^ 


Copyriglit,  19iri,  liy  Fri'dcrick  Kiiiirliilil  Slirrmiiu,  "Art  in  Amcriiii" 

FRONT  STEPS  OF  ST.  PHILIPS  PARSONACE.  BlILT  AHOl  T  1770 

The  lots  on  the  Glebe  lands  had  been  let  to  tenants 
on  long  leases,  and  Dr.  Shecut,  in  1819,  tells  us  that 
they  had  been  "  indifferently  built  upon." 

314 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  IIARLESTON 

It  will  be  renieinhered  that  Ilarleston  was  laid  out 
in  combination  witli  it,  and  between  Shecut's  date  and 
the  year  1800  numerous  line  dwellings  were  built  there. 

The  streets  runnino'  tln*ou<^h  these  two  tracts  do  not 
seem  to  have  taken  the  names  of  land-owners,  as  is  so 
usual  in  other  parts  of  the  growing  town.  They  were 
rather  the  names  of  noted  men  of  the  period.    ^Montague 


b^ 


^. 


BACK  STEPS  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  PARSONAGE,  BUILT  ABOUT  1770 

Street  suggests  the  Governor,  Lord  Charles  Greville 
]Montagu.  The  origin  of  the  name  of  Pitt  is  evident. 
Lieutenant-Governor  Bull,  John  Rutledge,  Thomas 
Lynch,  Christopher  Gadsden,  Barre,  Went  worth,  and 
de  Beaufain  seem  to  liave  been  thought  worthy  of  com- 
memoration. But  ahis  for  poor  Barre!  His  street  is 
now  a  mud  flat,  and  it  is  lucky  that  his  name  has  been 

315 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

better  preserved  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  name  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  where  it  was  ct)nibine(l  with  tlie  undying  name  of 
John  Wilkes. 

De  Beaufain  was  Collector  of  Customs,  and  some- 
time jNIember  of  His  ^Majesty's  Council.  From 
Stephen's  Journal,  vol.  iii,  282,  we  get  a  contemporary 
notice  of  him:  "  ]Nlonsieur  Hector  Beranger  de  Beau- 
fain  (whether  German,  French  or  Swiss  by  Birth,  I 
know  not)  certainly  had  a  liberal  education  and  was  well 
born,  allied  by  Blood  to  no  less  a  Family  than  that  of 
our  late  gracious  Queen  Caroline,  if  his  own  word  may 
be  taken  for  it;  and  was  often  conversant  at  Court,  till  a 
sudden  and  surj^rising  Turn  of  Thought  occasioned  him 
to  lay  aside  that  polite  Way  of  Life;  and  though  under 
no  pressure  of  Fortune,  but  jNIaster  of  a  competent 
Estate,  he  sought  solitude  in  America,  sitting  down  on 
a  Plantation  adjoining  to  his  friend  and  acquaintance, 
iNIr.  Samuel  jMontaigut,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Purys- 
burgh  in  Carolina  a  few  miles  on  the  Hiver  above 
Savannah." 

From  the  account  of  "Purrysburgh,"by  Hon.  Henry 
A.  M.  Smith  {South  Carolina  Historical  and  Genea- 
logical Magazine,  vol.  x,  p.  187 ) ,  we  note  that  the  various 
grants  to  de  Beaufain  aggregated  1950  acres.  He  de- 
vised by  an  invalid  will  two  tracts  of  this  land  to  his 
nephew  and  heir-at-law,  the  Baron  de  Beranger  de  Beau- 
fain "  of  Kslang  (sic)  in  Franconie,"  to  whose  attorney, 
John  Hutledge,  under  date  of  March  22,  178G,  the  legis- 
lature granted  permission  to  sell  said  lands  for  the  benefit 
of  the  said  Baron  de  Beranger  de  Beaufain. 

316 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

We  find  another  mention  of  him  in  the  Collections  of 
the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  vol.  ii,  p.  51 :  "I  reached 
Purvsburg  the  same  night,  without  so  much  as  resting 
myself  or  horse,  and  was  received  there  by  Hector  Ber- 
renger  Beaufin  Esq.  a  very  worthy  gentleman,  and  one 
that  was  a  fellow  passenger  with  me  from  England." 
The  writer  of  this  "  Xew  Voyage  to  Georgia  "  arrived  in 
Charles  Town  on  December  10,  1733. 

We  easily  fill  out  his  career  in  America  from  his 
tablet  in  old  St.  Philip's  Church  (Dalcho,  p.  123)  : 

In  the  Cemetery  of  this  Church 

lie  the  Remains 

of 

Hector  Beranger  de  Beaufain,  Esq. 

Bom  at  Orange  in  France,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1697;  He 

came  from  London  to  South  Carolina  in  1733  where  he  resided 

the  Remainder  of  his  life;    in  1742  He  was  appointed 

Collector  of  his  Majesty's  Customs,  and  in  171'7,  Member  of 

His  Majesty's  Council  for  this  Province. 

He  died  Oct.  13,  1766, 

deservedly  Regretted. 

Then  follows  a  long  laudatory  inscription  which  tells, 
among  his  many  virtues,  that  he  was  a  "  Master  of  the 
Learned  Languages,  And  tho'  a  Foreigner,  a  profound 
critic  in  the  English  Tongue." 

"  Harleston,"  however,  was  but  slowly  covered  with 
houses,  for  in  1819  Shecut  speaks  of  it  as  still  indented 
with  marsh  and  creeks,  mentioning,  however,  a  number 
of  houses,  and  among  them,  a  handsome  one  then  owned 
by  Mr.  William  Clarkson.     This  was  built  about  1800 

317 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

by  Mr.  William  Hlacklock,  and  is  still  standing  on  Bull 
Street,  a  striking  example  of  the  house  architecture  of 
a  century  ago.  It  is  occupied  to-day  (1916)  by  Mr. 
E.  H.  Jahnz,  German  Consul. 


'i'  u 


1/  A 


.•rJF 


Copyright,  UUG,  by  KriMli-rick  Faircliild  Slicriiiiiii,  "Ait  in  Anicrica" 

THREE  FAN-LIGHTS 
1,  Brewlon-Alslon-Pringle  House;   2,  Blacklock  House  on  Bull  Street,  now  residence  of  Mr.  K.  H. 
Julinz;    3,  Governor  Bennett's  House 

Not  far  from  the  house  just  mentioned,  at  the  corner 
of  Pitt  and  ^lontague  Streets,  stands  the  residence  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Cirange  Simons,  which  in  the  tornado  of 
1811  had  a  noteworthy  experience.  It  is  enough  to 
quote  from  the  newspaper  of  that  day :  "  The  mansion- 
"  house  of  the  Hon.  Judge  Desaussure  was  violently 

318 


MANTEL  IN  RESIDENCE  OF  DR.  THOMAS  GRANGE  SIMU.Ns 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

"  assailed,  and  suffered  considerably.  One  of  the  chim- 
"  neys  was  thrown  down,  and  a  part  of  the  family  who 
"  were  in  an  uj^per  room  at  the  time  were  precipitated 
"  with  the  falling  bricks,  through  two  floors  into  the 
"  kitchen,  providentially  no  lives  were  lost,  except  that 
"  of  a  negro  girl." 

After  1800  that  neighborhood  was  rapidly  improved, 
and  by  1860  was  covered  by  a  number  of  fine  houses,  in  a 
general  way  partaking  of  the  Charleston  characteristics ; 
most  of  them,  to  repeat  the  quotation  from  "  Fuller's 
Worthies,"  standing  "  sidewaies  backward  into  their 
yards,  and  onely  endwaies  with  their  gables  towards 
the  street "  and  nearly  all  of  them  with  southern 
"  piazzas."  Among  the  exceptions  to  this  style  are  the 
Jefferson  Bennett  house  near  the  west  end  of  Montague 
Street  and  that  of  ]Mr.  John  Ficken,  formerly  JNIayor  of 
Charleston,  at  the  corner  of  jNIontague  and  Rutledge. 
This  last  was  built  soon  after  1853  by  Mr.  Jenkins 
Mikell,  who  bought  the  land  at  that  date.  With  its 
street-door  opening  into  a  hall  on  the  north,  and  with  its 
columned  portico  on  the  south  it  is  not  altogether  dis- 
similar to  the  style  which  came  into  vogue  here  about 
1820.  The  large  garden  to  the  south  with  its  magnolia 
trees  sets  off  the  beauty  of  the  house.  Harleston  Green 
to  the  south  has  long  since  been  built  up,  though  as  late 
as  1818  this  lot  was  described  as  situated  on  it. 

A  large  part  of  Harleston,  and  more  esi3ecially  the 
lots  bordering  upon  the  low  ground  and  marshes  of 
Coming's  Creek,  was  early  acquired  by  INIr.  Thomas 
Bennett,   Sr.,  who,  with  Daniel  Cannon,  utilized  the 

21  321 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides  by  establishing  on  these  waters 
lar^e  Kiniber  mills.  This  tidal  power  was  also  used 
largely  upon  the  i-iee-<^r()wing  rivers  for  poundin<r-niills, 
whieh  separated  tlie  luisk  from  the  «^rain;  and,  though 
gradually  su})erse(led  by  steam  power,  the  use  eontinued 
down  to  18(55.  Xor  was  it  only  the  water  power  whieh 
was  utilized,  for  among  the  lots  conveyed  in  ISO-t  by 
Thomas  Bennett,  Sr.,  to  Thomas  Hennett,  Jr.,  later 
Governor  of  South  Carolina,  was  the  lot  of  marsh-land 
on  which  the  windnaill  stood  near  by  a  branch  of  Com- 
ing's Creek.  This  possibly  resembled  the  one  sketched 
by  Fraser  in  1802. 

The  men  of  three  generations  of  this  Bennett  family 
during  the  period  between  the  Revolution  and  the  Con- 
federate War  were  leaders  in  tlie  development  of 
Charleston,  and  their  "  mill  establishments,"  though  in 
other  hands,  still  retain  industrial  importance.  The 
reclamation  of  their  huge  mill-ponds  has  been  hastened 
by  the  change  to  steam  power,  and  many  acres  of  this 
"  made-land  "  are  to-day  covered  with  houses. 

jNIr.  Bennett,  Sr.,  lived  at  the  west  end  of  Montague 
Street  in  the  house  now  belonging  to  ]\Ir.  Benjamin 
Simmons.  In  his  will,  proved  in  1814,  he  devised  the 
house  "  where  I  now  live  "  to  his  wife,  Ann  Hayes  Ben- 
nett, for  life  with  remainder  to  his  grandson,  Wash- 
ington Jefferson  Bennett.  L^j)()n  Mrs.  Bennett's  death, 
her  grandson,  in  1830,  sold  the  ])roperty,  and  it  tlien 
changed  hands  several  times  until,  in  18.37,  it  became 
the  property  of  Mr.  Thomas  Grange  Simons,  after  liav- 
ing  been  the  residence  in  succession  of  Mr.   Octavius 

322 


A'  W 

i  n 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

Guerard  and  Alexander  JNIoultrie.  From  the  earliest 
days  of  Carolina  these  two  names,  Simmons  and  Simons, 
are  to  be  found  side  by  side  with  an  identical  pronuncia- 
tion. Of  them  tlie  Simons  family  were  of  Huguenot 
origin. 

The  western  boundary  of  this  lot  should  be  Barre 


HULSE  BLILT  BY  GUVEKNuR  BENNETT,  NOW  THE  RESIDENCE  OE 
MRS.  E.  L.  HALSEY 

Photographed  just  after  the  cyclone 

Street,  later  called  Harleston  Street,  but  this  apparently 
was  never  improved  and  to-day  is  to  the  eye  not  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  adjacent  mud-flat.  The  house  is 
a  large  three-story  building  with  a  double  flight  of  stone 
steps  leading  into  a  piazza. 

On  his  grounds,  through  which  Lucas  Street  has  since 

325 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

been  opened,  Governor  'riioinas  15ennett  built  his  own 
house  a  little  distance  south  of  Calhoun  Street,  looking 
to  the  south  over  his  "  Mill  Kstablishinents/'  This  fine 
house  is  now  the  residenee  of  Mrs.  K.  I^.  Ilalsey.  It  is 
built  with  two  stories  on  a  hi<^h  basement.  The  piazza  is 
reached  at  its  cast  end  by  a  Hi_L>ht  of  stone  stc])s  with  an 


PIAZZA  OF  (;<)Vi;UN()I{  IJKNM'.TTS  IIOISK 

iron  i-ailin.<»-.  The  posts  of  this  piazza,  witli  a  series  of 
segmental  ai-ches  between  them,  arc  prettily  finished. 
The  entablatiu'e  of  the  hall  door,  which  opens  on  it,  with 
its  side-lights,  is  su})ported  by  four  engaged  columns,  and 
is  surmounted  by  a  fan-light  of  handsome  design.  The 
hall  goes  through  the  house  and  is  broken  by  an  arch 
supported  at  either  end  by  a  column  and  a  ])ilaster.  At 
the  back  of  the  hall  the  curved  staircase,  as  in  the  Russell 

326 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

house  of  about  the  same  date,  springs  unsupported  to 
the  second  floor,  where  the  upper  hall  is  again  broken 
by  an  arch  similar  to  the  one  below.     The  large  window 


HALL  DOOR  OF  GOVERNOR  BENNETTS  HOUSE 

on  the  staircase  with  its  Ionic  pilasters  corresponds  in 
finish  with  the  arches,  and  the  detail  of  the  whole  is  very 
handsome. 

The  Jefferson  Bennett  house  at  the  corner  of  ^lon- 

3-27 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

tagiie  and  Gadsden  Streets  was  bought  by  ^Ir.  Bennett 
in  1851  from  ^Irs.  Gibbes,  dau^liter  and  devisee  of 
James  Shoolbrcd.     It  is  l)clicvc(l  to  luivc  been  built  some 


DOORWAY  IN  MAM-  OF  GOVERNOK  HKNNKTT  S  HOUSE 

time  before  1815  by  ^Nlr.  Theodore  Gailhird,  Jr.,  for  in 
tliat  year  a  conveyance  recites  tliat  the  house  was  stand- 
ing when  then  sold  to  Gen.  Jacol)  Read,  United  States 
Senator  from  1795  to  1801.  By  General  Read's  execu- 
tor it  was  sold  in  1810  to  James  Shoolbred,  the  British 

3^28 


STAIRCASE  OF  GOVERNOR  BENNETTS  HOUSE 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

Consul  in  Charleston,  who  left  here  many  descendants. 

Gov.  Thomas  Bennett  conveyed  by  deed  of  gift  to 
his  son-in-law,  Jonathan  Lucas,  in  1847,  the  land  upon 
which  stands  the  large  rice  pounding-mill,  called  the 
West  Point  Mill;  and  Mr.  Lucas  built  for  himself  on 
the  north  side  of  Calhoun  Street  the  house  now  called 
the  Kiverside  Infinnarv,  which,  with  its  beautiful  o-ar- 
den,  looked  across  the  spacious  mill-pond  to  the  river 
and  beyond. 

To  the  first  of  this  Lucas  family  in  South  Carolina, 
the  elder  Jonathan  Lucas,  the  State  was  indebted  for 
the  great  impetus  given  to  the  rice-planting  industry, 
which  continued  to  expand  until  the  result  of  the  Con- 
federate War  gave  it  its  death-blow.  Thenceforward,  in- 
stead of  expanding,  it  steadily  decreased,  so  that  to-day 
these  valuable  lands  have  become  either  "  duck-reserves  " 
(!!!)  or  have  returned  to  forest  and  swamp.  This  term 
"  reserve  "  is  of  ancient  use  in  Carolina,  to  designate 
land  banked  in  for  the  retention  and  conservation  of 
water. 

Gov.  R.  F.  W.  Allston  wrote,  in  1843,  a  valuable 
account  of  this  development,  with  the  part  taken  in  it  by 
JNIr.  Jonathan  Lucas  and  his  descendants,  from  the  time 
of  the  erection  of  the  first  water-mill,  in  1787,  on  :Mr. 
Bowman's  Santee  plantation. 

My.  Bennett  found  the  scene  of  his  activities  already 
supplied  with  a  local  name,  but  his  neighbor  to  the  north- 
ward, ;Mr.  Cannon,  gave  his  own  name  to  his  large  ac- 
quisitions which  are  to  this  day  called  Cannonsboro. 
This  was  north  of  Boundary  Street  and  west  of  Com- 
ing's Creek,  which  separates  it  from  the  land  granted 

331 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

to  Samuel  ^Vragg  between  Vanderhorst  and  Boundary 
Streets,  and  also  from  Radcliffeborough,  above  Vander- 
horst Street.  This  Wragg  grant  covered  the  land  ])e- 
tvveen  Vanderhorst  and  ]Manigault  Streets,  which  was 
later  a  j)art  of  Boundary  Street.     It  extended  to  King 


1^^»l<^i% 


RESIDENCE  OF  THE  LATE  MR.  JEFFERSON  HENNETT 
Built  by  Theodore  Gaillard,  Jr.,  before  1815 

Street,  and  included  the  Orphan  House  Square,  here- 
tofore described. 

There  were  many  pieces  of  marsh-land  and  small 
creeks  to  be  filled  up  in  Cannonsboro,  but  (piitc  early 
in  the  last  century  a  number  of  good  houses  were 
erected  there  chiefly  along  Pinckney  Street,  which,  after 
the  city  limits  were  extended  in  IS^O,  became  Rutledge 
Avenue,  thus  distinguished  from  Rutledge  Street  in 
Harleston. 

Here  on  the  east  side  of  the  street,  after  1830,  Mr. 

332 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

James  Nicholson  built  the  residence  which  is  to-day 
(1916)  owned  and  occupied  by  Miss  ^IcBee  and  her 
school,  known  as  Ashley  Hall.  Mr.  Nicholson's  execu- 
tors sold  it  in  1838  to  Mr.  James  R.  Pringle,  sometime 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  South  Caro- 


':'t^^^^^^:if^:^^.:^'>':^  ^ 


Au,:  T?.  Hupcr  S^-,^h  —. 


CARRIAGE-GATE  AND  OUTHOUSES  OF  JEFFERSON  BENNETT  RESIDENCE 


lina  and  later  Collector  of  the  Customs.  It  was  long  the 
residence  of  Mr.  George  A.  Trenholm,  quondam  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  it 
later  became  for  many  years  the  home  of  ]Mr.  Charles 
Otto  Witte,  Consul  of  the  German  Empire.  To  Mr. 
Witte  is  due  much  of  the  beauty  of  the  garden  and 
grounds  and  additions  to  the  building.  When  Coming's 
Creek,  above  Calhoun  Street,  was  stopped  up,  he  filled 
in  and  added  to  his  grounds  the  marsh  at  the  east,  extend- 
ing them  to  the  new  street  then  opened. 

333 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

This  process  of  laying"  out  into  city  lots  the  agricul- 
tural lands  on  the  Neck  still  continues,  and  there  are 
retained  to-day  not  a  few  of  the  names  <rivcn  to  thcni 
or  to  their  streets  hy  the  projectors.  We  will  mention 
only  some  of  these.     Ilampstead  with  its  mall  was  an 


P  3^:i!U::^r 


VERY  OLD  HOUSE,  ONCE  THE  UESIDENt  E  OF  (UAULES  ERASER,  NOW  THE 
RESIDENCE  OE  MRS.  HENRY  RAKER 

enterprise  of  Henry  Laurens.  New  Market  for  gen- 
erations was  owned  hy  the  Blake  family.  The  village 
of  Washington,  laid  out  from  King  Street  westward 
just  south  of  the  Race  Course,  now  Hampton  Park, 
commemorated  in  its  streets  names  noted  in  the  then 
recent  lievolution;  and  many  of  these  have  survived. 
Pinckney  Street  lost  its  name  when  the  city  limits  were 
extended   ahove   Boundary    Street,    hut    Moultrie   and 

:5.'U 


GLEBE  OF  ST.  PHILIP'S  AND  HARLESTON 

Huger  still  remind  us  of  two  South  Carolinian  Continen- 
tal generals.  Gadsden  had  kept  them  company  in  the 
village  of  Washington,  until  it  yielded  to  another  Gads- 
den Street  in  Harleston,  but  Congress  holds  its  own. 


■v. '. 


•^--v^ 


^->b^ 


...s-"-^' 


A  QUAINT  OLD  HOUSE  IN  ST.  MICHAELS  ALLEY 

Many  other  projected  villages  were  too  short-lived 
for  history  and  only  serve  to-day  to  worry  lawyers  in 
examining  titles  of  the  larger  tracts  which  have  reab- 
sorbed their  lots.  The  last  of  all  these  projects  is  the 
Xorth  Charleston  of  to-day,  which  leaped  over  some  six 
miles  of  country  to  establish  itself  on  the  old  plantation 


335 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

called  Palmetto,  which,  with  Yeaman's  Hall,  just  above, 
were  seats  of  the  sons  of  the  first  Landgrave  Smith, 
lying  where  Goose  Creek  enters  the  Cooper.  The  owner 
of  "  Palmetto  "  was  Dr.  George  Smith,  of  whose  son, 
Rev.  Josiah  Smith,  and  grandson,  Josiah  Smith,  Jr.,  we 
have  already  spoken  in  connection  with  the  reclamation 
of  South  Batterv. 


BUILDING  MATERIALS 


22 


CHAPTER  XVI 
BUILDING  MATERIALS 

THE  reports  of  the  very  first  settlers  made  to 
the  Lords  Proprietors  dwell  upon  the  fine 
growth  around  Charles  Town  of  valuable 
timber.  Maurice  Matthews,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Ashley 
(later  Earl  of  Shaftesbury),  lists:  White  oak,  red  oak, 
black  oak,  water  oak,  Spanish  oak,  and  live  oak,  ash, 
hickory,  poplar,  beech,  elm,  laurel,  bay,  sassaphrage 
(sic),  dogwood,  black  walnut,  and  in  great  abundance 
the  pine,  cedar,  and  cypress,  which  last  he  calls  "  Won^ 
derfull  Large  and  tall,  and  smooth,  of  a  delicate  graine 
and  smells." 

Almost  the  first  industry  of  the  settlers  was  to  pre- 
pare for  export  "  Timber  and  Pipe-staves  and  other 
Commoditys  fit  for  ye  Market  of  Barbadoes."  But  there 
was  an  even  more  immediate  use  for  lumber.  The  Gov- 
ernor was  to  have  in  the  towns  "  the  streets  layd  out  as 
large  orderly  and  convenient  as  possibly  may  be,  and 
when  that  is  done  the  houses  which  shall  hereafter  be 
built  on  each  side  those  designed  Streets,  will  grow  in 
beauty  with  the  Trade  and  Riches  of  the  Towne."  Thus 
an  immediate  local  demand  for  lumber  was  created  to 
build  these  houses  and  to  fortify  the  settlements  with 
^'  Pallisadoes." 

Were  the  very  first  houses  the  familiar  log-cabins 
chinked  with  moss  and  clay  and  with  clay  chimnej^s 
and  clap-board  roofs?    This  particular  "  style  of  colonial 

339 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

architecture  "  is  followed  to  this  day,  and  the  curious 
may,  if  they  please,  watch  an  "  Afro-American  "  landed 
proprietor  erecting  his  mansion  on  just  these  lines. 
He  does  not  always  observe,  however,  the  regulation 
that  the  house  should  be  at  least  twenty  feet  long  by 
fifteen  broad. 

But  the  erection  of  frame  houses  must  have  quickly 
followed,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  numbers  of  car- 
penters and  sawyers  mentioned  among  the  early  settlers. 

A  letter  of  Thomas  Newe,  dated  May  17,  1082,  has 
been  recently  reprinted  in  Salley's  "  Narratives  of  Early 
Carolina."  In  describing  the  new  Charles  Town  on 
Oyster  Point,  he  says  that  the  town  hath  about  one  hun- 
dred houses,  all  of  wood,  "  though  here  is  excellent  brick 
made,  but  little  of  it." 

The  long-leaf  or  yellow  pine,  the  cypress,  and  the 
cedar  were  the  woods  chiefly  employed  in  building,  the 
two  former  being  especially  adapted  for  weather-board- 
ing, and  all  of  them  being  exceedingly  durable.  The 
roofs  were  made  of  cypress  shingles,  or  sometimes  of 
cedar. 

But  the  making  of  brick  increased  rapidly,  for  the 
more  ancient  conveyances  speak  of  brickyards  either 
separated  or  as  appurtenant  to  plantations,  and  vestiges 
of  them  remain  scattered  through  the  country. 

The  sawing  out  of  lumber  in  the  ancient  saw-pits 
was  a  slow  operation,  but  this  method  long  survived 
on  the  plantations.  The  saw-pit,  and  the  cross-cut  and 
rip-saws  driven  by  the  hard  nuiscles  of  brawny  negroes, 
supplied  the  lumber  used  for  plantation  buildings  even 

340 


BUILDING  MATERIALS 

to  the  middle  of  the  L^st  century.  Yet  as  early  as  1712 
we  find  the  Legislature  offering  the  sole  privilege  for 
eight  years  of  erecting  saw-mills,  whether  driven  by  wind 
or  water,  to  the  one  who  first  should  bring  to  complete 
perfection  such  a  mill  as  found  in  Holland  and  elsewhere. 

The  line  of  legislation  to  limit  the  danger  of  fires  runs 
curiously  through  the  first  two  centuries  of  the  existence 
of  the  town;  and  the  fluctuation  is  queerly  interesting. 
It  was  early  found  necessary  to  enforce  the  use  of  only 
stone  and  brick  in  the  construction  of  chimneys;  but  a 
curious  reservation,  "  except  with  leave,"  in  the  act  of 
1698  seems  like  a  sop  to  the  poorer  home-builders,  ap- 
parently allowing  the  occasional  erection  of  a  clay 
chimney. 

Fires  seem  ever  to  have  been  very  unreasonable 
things.  We  learn  from  the  act  of  1713  that,  in  spite 
of  the  statute  of  1704  to  suppress  them,  they  still  "  have 
happened  to  break  out,"  and  destruction  followed  "  prin- 
cipally by  reason  of  nearness  of  houses,"  they  being  still 
mostly  of  timber.  With  this  preamble  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  buildings  of  timber  were  almost  strictly 
prohibited.  The  use  here  of  the  word  "  almost  "  is 
induced  by  a  reservation  in  the  act,  reading  "  Unless  the 
said  timber  be  upon  the  very  spot  of  land." 

Every  great  fire  seems  to  have  brought  about  the 
re-enactment  of  such  prohibitions,  and  every  consider- 
able period  of  safety  produced  a  corresponding  laxity. 
This  has  continued  to  our  own  day.  Thus  legislative 
wisdom  ever  bows  to  popular  clamor!  and  projects  "  of 

341 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

great  pith  and  moincnt  witli  tliis  regard  tlicir  currents 
turn  awry  and  lose  the  name  of  action." 

Tliere  is  no  l)uilding  stone  in  the  low-country  of 
South  Carolina,  but  beds  of  marl  underlie  much  of  it. 
One  attempt  only  to  use  this  for  house-building  lias  been 
noticed.  The  Wadboo  Barony  on  the  headwaters  of 
the  Ashley  was  granted  in  1683  to  I^andgrave  James 
Colleton,  a  son  of  Sir  John  Colleton,  one  of  the  Lords 
Proprietors.  He  was  Governor  of  the  province  from 
l()8f)  to  1090,  when  he  was  banished  by  the  Sothell  re- 
bellion. The  15arony  remained  in  the  possession  of  his 
family  until  the  Revolution. 

At  what  date  the  house  thereon  was  built  is  not 
to-day  known.  It  was  occupied  during  the  Revolution- 
ary ^Var  at  one  time  or  another  by  both  British  and 
Americans,  and  there,  in  August,  1782,  ]Marion  defeated 
the  British  under  ]Major  Fraser,  the  noted  cavalry 
leader. 

It  would  well  repay  one  to  read  in  the  first  and  second 
volumes  of  the  South  Carolina  Historical  and  Genea- 
logical Magazine  the  account  of  the  Colleton  family  by 
Hon.  Henry  A.  M.  Smith  and,  also,  that  of  this  Barony 
in  volume  xii. 

We  cjuote  from  the  report  of  the  Cieology  of  South 
Carolina  by  the  State  (Geologist,  Michael  Tuomey,  pub- 
lished in  1848,  his  account  of  the  ruins  of  the  \Vadboo 
House. 

"  We  found  here  the  ruins  of  a  dwelling  of  consider- 
"  able  size,  said  to  have  been  erected  by  Sir  John  Col- 
"  leton.     Of  the  house  itself  little  more  remained  than 

3ii 


BUILDING  MATERIALS 

"  the  dilajiidated  foundation,  but  there  was  an  outhouse, 
"  or  office,  in  a  pretty  good  state  of  preservation.  It  is 
"  evident  that  the  walls  were  of  stone,  and  at  first  sight 
"  I  was  reminded  of  Portland  Stone,  which  I  supposed 
"  had  been  imported  in  those  early  times — as  I  had  seen 
"  in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  stone  steps  and  window- 
"  sills,  that  had  been  brought  from  Europe  by  the  first 
"  colonists. 

"  The  stone  was  well  dressed  and  coursed,  the  win- 
"  dow  jambs  well  cut;  and  within  the  building,  the  fire- 
"  place  was  decorated  with  a  tasteful  mantel,  handsomely 
"  moulded,  with  angles  quite  sharp,  and  all  composed 
"  of  the  same  stone.  Even  where  the  wall  was  exposed 
"  to  the  weather,  the  marks  of  the  tools  were  so  well 
"  defined  as  if  they  had  been  impressed  but  yesterday. 
"  While  examining  these  things  I  discovered  some 
"  minute  eocene  fossils ;  and  on  closer  examination  I 
"  found  that  this  building  material  was  nothing  more  or 
"  less  than  marl,  and  the  quarry  in  the  vicinity,  from 
"  which  it  was  taken,  we  were  not  long  in  finding.  The 
"  blocks  had  evidently  been  split  out,  and  sawed,  or 
"  shaped  with  the  axe,  into  proper  form.  The  rock  is 
"  not  marlstone  but  the  ordinary  compact  granular  and 
"  yellowish  marl,  found  in  numerous  places  on  the  river. 

"  Seeing  how  well  this  material  resists  the  disinte- 
"  grating  effects  of  atmospheric  agencies,  in  many  of  the 
"  bluffs  along  the  river  such  as  the  high  and  perpen- 
"  dicular  escarpment  on  the  Creek,  near  the  Rectory, 
"  which  is  even  perforated  with  caves,  it  is  not  surpris- 
"  ing  that  it  should  have  suggested  itself  as  a  building 

343 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

"  material,  and  it  is  only  strange  that  the  experiment 
"  should  have  ended  here." 

Bennuda  stone  is  identical  with  the  Coquina  stone 
used  in  building  by  the  Spaniards  of  St.  Augustine. 
This  was  brouglit  to  and  used  in  this  province,  for  we 
find  frequent  mention  of  it  in  the  minutes  of  the  Com- 
missioners of  Fortifications.  Yet  it  would  probably  be 
impossible  to  find  any  of  this  stone  in  buildings  now 
standing.  A  score  of  years  ago  the  sidewalk  in  front 
of  an  old  house  in  Church  Street  was  paved  with  it, 
pointing  back  to  the  day  when  these  walks  were  merely 
paths  on  the  sides  of  the  streets,  the  protection  of  which 
was  left  to  the  house-owners.  One  evidence  of  this  care 
is  the  presence  here  and  there  of  stone  posts  on  the 
frontage  of  various  houses,  put  there  to  keep  vehicles 
from  encroaching  on  the  sidewalks.  Those  which  to-day 
survive  are  of  a  hard  stone  or  granite. 

The  scarcity  of  stone  impelled  the  passage  of  laws 
permitting  the  public  authorities  to  take,  at  a  valuation, 
all  stone  ballast  for  use  on  the  fortifications  and  sea- 
walls. The  Act  of  1738  to  this  effect  was  to  be  of  force 
for  seven  years,  for  the  Province  was  then  reawakened 
to  the  necessity  of  "  Preparedness,"  not  believing  in  the 
advent  of  perpetual  peace. 

An  artificial  stone  called  "  tabby  "  or  "  tapia  "  was 
also  largely  used  from  an  early  period.  This  was  a 
mixture  of  lime  with  crushed  shells  and  gravel,  which, 
when  hardened,  was  very  durable.  On  the  whole  line 
of  this  coast  ruined  colonial  fortifications  still  remain, 
partly  built  of  this  material.    The  old  fort  at  Dorchester 

344 


BUILDING  MATERI.\LS 

and  the  one  at  Cole's  Island  are  within  easy  reach  of 
Charleston.  The  circular  wall  of  the  latter  stood  in  its 
entirety  a  few  years  ago,  but  has  recently  been  partly 
demolished  by  the  encroachment  of  the  sea. 

The  flooring  of  the  old  houses  was  of  hard  yellow 
pine,  as  were  the  joists,  etc.  These  planks  were  not 
always  grooved  and  tongued  as  in  more  recent  years, 
but  were  broad  boards  of  the  heart  of  the  pine,  nailed 
down,  one  very  close  to  the  other.  They  must  have  been 
perfectly  seasoned,  for  there  was  no  shrinkage  after  they 
were  laid  down. 

The  panelling  and  lighter  work  was  of  cypress, 
mahogany,  or  of  cedar,  generally  of  the  first.  The  halls 
and  public  rooms  of  the  finer  houses  were  as  a  rule 
panelled  throughout,  while  the  bed-rooms  were  thus 
finished  for  three  or  four  feet  from  the  floor,  above 
which  plaster  was  used  up  to  a  wooden  cornice. 

The  roofs  were  either  of  shingles  or  slate  or  tiles. 
The  tiles  of  the  old  roofs  remaining  are  either  black  or 
red,  and,  also,  they  differ  somewhat  in  size.  We  will 
not  attempt  to  suggest  whence  they  were  brought,  nor 
when  the  manufacture  in  the  Province  began,  but  once 
again  we  will  quote  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault-Lian- 
court  to  show  that  they  were  made  there  in  1795:  "  In 
different  places  in  this  state  tile-kilns  have  been  erected, 
which  yield  their  proprietors  considerable  profit.  The 
tiles  cost  eleven  dollars  a  thousand." 

The  houses  were  built  with  high-pitched  roofs,  the 
square  ones  generally  rising  on  the  four  sides  to  a  peak 

345 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

or  nearly  so.  Many  liouses  had  "  hipped  "  root's,  of 
wliich  the  old  house  at  "  The  Mulherry,"  a  plantation  on 
Cooper  River,  is  a  <rood  example.  This  is  said  to  have 
been  built  in  171-t. 

Hi<rh    and    ornamented    wooden    mantelpieces    pre- 


'Hii! 


k. 


^'•■j-i 


»'i)p_vii);lit,  Pll.'i,  l.y  llarpiT  &  BiotliiTH 


ST.  MICHAELS  STKEPLE  ACROSS  HI. ID  HOOKS 

dominated,  but  there  are  numerous  instances  in  which 
they  were  of  marble.  Undoubtedly  many  of  the  latter 
were  of  the  date  of  the  houses;  but  it  frecjuently  has  hap- 
pened that  a  later  owner  has  replaced  the  one  with  the 

31G 


BUILDING  MATERIALS 


other.  A  noticeable  instance  of  this  is  in  the  old  Izard 
house  (now  Mr.  Bryan's),  where  are  carved  mantel- 
pieces brought  from  Italy  by  Mrs.  Pringle,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Joel  R.  Poinsett,  as  mentioned  in  the  description 
of  the  house. 

Also  the  black  marble  mantel  of  two  generations 
ago  has  obtruded  its  gloomy  presence  into  many  houses. 


Ilfilf^ilir 
^  'is-'-"  i li  71  Tl  ll  W^M  ?'  •'•  ': 


wmm 


TILED  ROOF  OF  AN  OLD  WAREHOUSE  ON  EAST  BAY 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  older  houses  were  built 
with  open  fireplaces,  and  that  coal-grates  are  modern 
intruders,  which  detract  from  their  beauty. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  ornamental  iron-work  in 
Charleston.  This  usually  takes  the  form  of  balconies 
and  gateways.  Although  a  piece  of  cast  iron  is  some- 
times seen  that  is  pretty  and  decorative,  it  is  the  wrought 

347 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

iron  that  is  especially  interesting.  The  use  of  this  com- 
menced at  a  very  early  date  and  the  development  of 
this  use  was  continuous.  It  would  he  difficult  to  put 
dates  to  tlu'  various  cxani])lcs,  tlic  more  so  as  in  some 


/#  ■■     ^  kf 


/.. 


/. 


^-v,^ 


'-JL 


^  \  ■- 


BALCONY  OK  HKNUV  MANK.AULTS  HOI  SK  ON  MKETING  STRKET 
Now  Ihf  residence  of  Mr.  K.  H.  Hurton 

cases  these  gates  and  balconies  have  been  removed  from 
one  house  to  another.  As  an  instance,  there  can  he 
pointed  out  the  fine  gates  and  fence  around  the  lot, 
formerly  of  Dr.  Horlbeck,  on  the  southeast  corner  of 
Wentworth  and  Coming  Streets,  which  were  put  there 

348 


..UyUlyK'A-r'-.-l.-./,^.i.JJ-it-,)i 


fi 


Ba'.coiiu 

O.ul     cioor 

t 

T\     SlaU   Si 


^r' 


n.  uf(uri.o" 


0;i 


£rc.o  i   I't. 


^v'  Ai  rir--  .1  .J  'hf.^^.zforrL  .  ,       rV' 

^        _:         ■    ^m£^ 


bo-!.Ccni4 


nu    OTiCasr  c- 


nc^ir     IrO-dLcl    DlrkiiZ , 


.-eh 


Xt.-xte  Street 


hi 


n 


tf?S?[«trT.  ■ 


M»i»tl— ^i«ni     ■       -I*"'*   '""7|*      '' 


'•'XJ;:^X::!  rtve  Du. comes 


bet  lo  ten 
Broad  arid  Chalrriei'S- 


^^BTq)' 


WWWWMfWMti 


Jjc'v  buLcoriies  cf  t'ti. 


ll 


liiiiL 


'~r 


HrfeTmTirn-. 


Ji^o  hale  onies    en.  Brcaci     !ZtK<Lt 
,  near-   ^At^T-c/i    jS^rei<^' 


p„..l    .,.  .W.^  or.  ^ 

Trarf  a  St.  \o-l»r  of  C/mixh   > 


Si'/eont'  '-rut  (Vone/j  \r>  rii^iot^  ^o  S'«^s. 


CDcc^.apS? 


alolvSc  ■\^'C^^rk^ 


^'j'-t  I"  pattern   u\   iu.-o  lalCoaifS 

oil    Kin.^  Street   near 
. ""  LamloLl. 


)(s>rJKfc^: 


Pp 


I 


«^-- 


Kir.  (J    C  +;(.,..(- 


23 


BUILDING  MATERIALS 

nearly  thirty  years  ago  when  the  old  library  building  in 
Broad  Street  was  remodelled. 

In  comparing  one  of  these  with  another  the  designs 
of  the  older  pieces  seem  less  lavishly  decorated  with 
unnecessary  ornament,  keeping  an  attractive  simplicity 
even  where  the  design  itself  was  most  elaborate.     The 


1 1  ::•  U  r 


ch    .Dire 'it. 


fancies  and  designs  of  the  earlier  period  have  been  re- 
peated and  continued  more  or  less  closely  in  later  days, 
when,  however,  we  begin  to  find  at  times  a  cast  iron 
rosette  as  the  centre  of  a  figure  or  finishing  a  spiral. 

It  is  curious  how  the  names  of  the  earlier  architects 
have  been  lost,  unless  many  of  those  who  in  old  deeds 
were  called  bricklayers,  carpenters,  or  builders,  com- 
bined with  the  erection  of  the  house  the  designing  of  it, 

355 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

as  was  also  frequently  the  case  in  other  colonies.  And, 
indeed,  upon  occasion  we  do  find  the  builder  called  in- 
differently the  one  or  the  other. 

The  following  death  notice  in  the  South  Carolina 


Copj-riulit,  liMi;,  liy  FiiMlrrick  Kain-liild  SliiTiniiii,  "Art  in  Anicricii" 
GRILLE  ON  CHURCH  STREET 

Gazette  of  January  31, 1774,  seems  a  case  in  point :  *'The 
same  day  (24  Jan.)  died  very  suddenly  Mr.  Samuel 
Cardy,  the  ingenious  architect  who  undertook  and  com- 
pleated  the  "building  of  St.  Michael's  Church  in  this 
Town." 

356 


BUILDING  MATERIALS 

Mr.  George  S.  Holmes  in  his  account  of  this  church 
is  induced  to  beheve  that  the  plans  were  by  James  Gibbs, 
a  noted  English  architect  of  the  period,  and  he  is  of  the 


ri 


#lS- 


fr-^-wsf 


1 1  ■  ^-^ '. 


iP^pi 


^■m 


U  »  .  J  .1.  .,     ,11,. -    ,       -       ,i,i_    — 1— r-rp-»-"  ^ISa         1,      -*•■'•-' 


c.<<:r.\\^r;-f. 


M 


v^sas 


I(r7|f.' 


r:;s^r^'agag!aa8r?^;-^'^--"g:^{.:::.^y^^ 


BALCONY  AND  GRILLE  ON  KING  STREET 

opinion  that  Cardy  combined  the  building  of  the  church 
with  the  supervision  of  it. 

Another  advertisement  in  the  Gazette  of  April  1, 
1757,  describes  a  house  the  architecture  of  which  has 

357 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

certainly  not  ))ccn  iniitatcd  in  any  other  now  existing 
in  Charleston. 

"  Janies  Ueid,  Proposes  to  sell  his  house  jiiid  land  contiguous 
"  to  his  ropo-Widk,  the  suid  house  beiu^  much  too  hirge  for  Ids 
"  family  (which  is  now  reduced  to  only  luniself  and  wife).  The 
"  said  house  new-built,  strong  and  modish,  after  the  Chinese 
"  taste  which  spreads  60  feet  square  including  the  balconies.  It 
"  is  remarkably  commodius  in  many  respects;  it  is  both  warm  in 
"  winter  and  deemed  the  most  airy  in  Sunnner  of  any  house  in 
"  the  province,  and  is  open  to  the  wholesome  Seaair.  The  dis- 
"  tance  from  Charles-Town  is  only  one  mile.  .  .  .  Any 
"  Person  inclining  to  sec  the  said  house  and  garden  will  be  made 
"  welcome,  and  may  know  the  condition  from  the  said  Reid,  who 
"  is  generally,  there  or  at  his  house  in  Hroad  Street,  Charles-. 
"  town." 

This  was  probably  an  echo  of  the  Chinese  taste  then 
rampant  in  England,  the  effect  of  which  npon  furniture 
design  has  been  interestingly  given  in  the  "  Practical 
Book  of  Period  Furniture,"  published  in  191-i  by  J.  B. 
Lippincott  Company.  The  furniture  in  the  larger  colo- 
nial houses  of  Carolina  was  chiefly  imported  from  Eng- 
land, and  many  j^ieces  by  Chippendale  and  other  old 
makers  were  to  be  found  both  in  town  and  country. 
INIuch  of  this  was  burned  or  carried  off  in  18().).  and  the 
temptation  of  the  high  prices  paid  by  modern  collectors 
is  fast  lessening  what  was  left. 


THE  BUILDING  OF  CHARLES  PINCKNEY'S 
HOUSE  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  BUILDING  OF  CHARLES  PINCKNEY'S 
HOUSE  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 

WE  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  had  access 
to  sundry  papers  connected  with  the  build- 
ing of  his  house  in  Colleton  Square  by 
Charles  Pinckney,  Attorney  General  in  1733,  Speaker 
of  the  Commons  1736-1739,  also  in  1740,  Chief  Justice 
1752-1753,  and  later  Commissioner  of  the  Colony  in 
London. 

Mr.  Pinckney  seems  to  have  decided  to  build  this 
house  in  1745,  for  under  that  date  we  find  a  partial 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  materials  to  be  used  for  this  pur- 
pose; and  he  at  once  commenced  to  collect  them.  It  is 
evident  that  this  was  not  intended  to  cover  the  total  cost, 
as  many  items,  such  as  the  slates  for  the  roof,  are  not 
mentioned,  nor  are  the  extensive  outbuildings  included 
in  this  memorandum. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  this  estimate  as  it  was 
written  by  himself,  with  a  number  of  interpolations  ap- 
parently made  at  later  dates  but  in  Mr.  Pincknej^'s  own 
handwriting : 

"  Cost  of  INIaterials  for  a  House  intended  on  the  Bay 
50  feet  front  and  44  feet  deep  2  story  high  with  a  hipp'd 
wall  ( ?)  roof  such  as  the  Gover'rs  to  be  raised  on  cellars 
6  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground  &  sunk  2  feet 
und'r  the  surface.  The  walls  to  be  three  brick  thick  to 
the  surface  then  2>4  to  the  first  floor  then  2  all  the  way 

361 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 


up  to  the  roof  the  Partition  walls  a  brick  &  half  thick 
to  tlie  first  floor  &  the  same  to  the  second.  The  first 
story  eleven  foot  and  half  clear  the  second  story  14  or 
16  foot  over  the  dining  room  to  he  coved  into  the  roof 
&  11'/  over  the  others. 


sh. 
of 


£1000 


("iirrt'ncv 


400 


80 
400 


Pains  -d  S  5 
t- w  — 

5S   O    ^ 


288    „ 


Windows- 


14—2—  28 

14     "       28 

14     "       28 

8     "       16 

50  100 

:.  B.  the  kcti  lu's 

must  bo  lonK'T 

anil       stronger 

than  the  last 


200,000  bricks  at  £5  pr.  M 
4,000  Inisiiells  lime  at  2 
pr.  Bus. 
4  Pettyauger     load 
Dorchester  Sand 
Pine  Timber  &  Boartls 
Cypress      Timber      & 
Boards 
Upon  the  Cellar  floar  9 
windows  each  sashd 
with  8  Pains  of  glass 
11  x9 
Upon  the  first  floar  16 
windows      with      18 
Pains  or  lights  in  each 
Upon  the  2d  Floar  the 

same — 
Upon  tiie  Garret  floar 
8    windows    with    8 
ligiits  in  eac-h 
A  \'enitian  window  on 
the  Stairs 

total 

p.  Hinges 

U|)on  the  cellar  floar 
3  1-t  win<iows  makes 
S  28  p.  window  Hinges 
^  Upon  the  first  floar 
^  the  same 
5'Upon  the  second  floar 
'J^  the  same 
2,  Uj)on  the  garret  floar 
n'     8  w.  Hi  [). 

I  4  Dozi-n  Shutter  bolts  No 
p     Ster'g.  each 

:5  4  Dozen  .Shutter  rings  with  loops  at  10  d 
5'     a  dozen 
e-8 


250        £2130-£2130 


288 

515 
foot 
£15 
in  cu 

£  i"  M  ») 

64 

e.isi 

f)0 
772 

Pains 

Ster' 
sh.  1 
one 

N.  B.  this  glass 
instead  of  7  costs 
me  lis  p.  foot. 


105-105 


in  all  100  p.  of 
window  hinges 
at  14sh.Ster'g. 
a  dozen 


1    at    10   d. 


42 


14 


Dozen    Iron    latches    &    ketches    for 
5.      window  sliutters  at  3  sh. 
5-6  pair  Balcony  Ijolts  with  brass  knobl)S 

c'6  p.  large  14  Inch  H.  hinges  with  nails  & 

p.     .screws  at  5/3 

^  3  Dozen  10  Inch  Do  at  £l  a  Dozen 

6  Dozen  strong  }i  inch  wood  screws  at  4/d 

33/  Gd  clouted  nails  at  2/10 
S62 


1-3-4 


5.5 

11-6 
21 

1 

3 


107-8-10 


PIXCKNKY  HOUSE  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 


lb 

37  M  rose  head  4  d  nails  4  p.  M  at 
li  M  elasp  —  10  d  Do.  l;5  Do  — 
li  M  clasp  —  20  d  Do       20  Do 

5  M      —  li  d  Brads  17  Do 

5  M  4  (1  Batten        Do 


D 

20— £3-3-8 


3/10 

5/7 
4/9 
2()d 


2-6 

3-7 
1-3-9 
8-4  Ster'g 


10-8-9 

73-1-3 

Brought  over 2105-10-1 

(Note  below  ap-  1400  lb.  wt.  of  white  lead  ground  in  ()\  le 

parently  a  later,-  at  3()  sh,  '     £       7-o 

interpolation      j    25  gallons  Oyle  (j 

Bottles  &  Baskets  1 

Houndletts  for  wt.  lead  &:c  -10 


Loeks  now  in  the 
house  3-8  Inch 
brass  loeks  5-(i 
Ineh  Do.  G-8 
Ineh  Iron  i)late 
draw  baek  loeks 
3-7  Ineh  Iron 
Do.  brass  fur- 
niture 


Pigg  lead  to  east  into  window  leads 
for  44  sash  windows 

Lines  for  Bullies  for  Do 

Slatt  for  eo\-ering  20  lb.  Ster'g.  (ille- 
gible) 200  lb.  eurren'y. 
450  feet  stone  for  paving   the   Entry   &  ] 
advanee   to   the  stairs  at   12  d  p.  |> 
foot  22  11).  10  sh.  Ster'g  J 

9-7  Inch  Iron  plate  Chamber  loeks  with  j 
lirass  furniture — (i  wood  stock  [ 
loeks  10  ineh  J 

Sheet  lead  for  2  gutters  one  23  feet 
long  &  one  20  Do.  4-4-6  Ster'g. 
at  7  lbs.  for  one 

Short  charged  in  Pine  Timber 

Do  in  Lime 

Laths  for  Slatler  and  Plaister  &  Hair 

Dutch  Tiles  for  (  hininevs  40  Dozen 
at  25  sh/ 

Contingencies 


To  the  Carpenters  Bill 

To    the    Bricklayers    la\iiig    200,000 

bricks  at  40  sh 
To  Extra  work  of  the  Bri<klavers 
To  the  Plaisters 
Labourers  abt. 


To  lead  from  [iilegil)le]  for  the   gutters 
that  [ illegible] 


14-1- 


-11-6 
4 


10.3-: 

39 


1-8 
200 

157-10 
35 


30 
107 
150 

60 

50 
300 

3638-13-01 

1800 

400 
100 
300 
300 

£'0538-13-1 

150 


It  may  be  intere.sting  to  compare  with  this  estimate 
some  of  the  prices  actually  paid  for  sundry  materials. 
An  "  account  of  bricks  for  buildings  in  Colleton  S(iuare 

363 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

from  6  June  1740  to  17-t8  shows  that  he  received  from 
Mr.  Zachariah  Villepontoux  194,400;  from  Mr. 
Xatlianiel  Snow  15,000;  from  Dupont  &  Goodbee 
.30,000;  from  Cioodhie  8800;  from  James  Coachman 
8000;  making  a  total  of  270,200.  But  there  must  have 
been  many  more  bricks  used,  for  Mr.  Snow  was  paid 
£5  pr.  iNI.  in  May,  1747,  for  10,400  "  agreed  to  be  landed 
at  the  new  bridge,"  and  in  January,  1747-1748,  for 
14  ^I.  more.  This  "  new  bridge  "  was  the  "  Governor's 
Bridge  "  on  East  Bay  across  the  creek  now  filled  up 
and  called  Market  Street.  In  August,  1747,  eight 
pounds  currency  was  paid  to  Cornelius  Solomon  for 
freight  on  8000  bricks  from  Mr.  Villepontoux's  plan- 
tation. 

The  correspondence  with  Mr.  John  Pagett  from 
his  plantation  in  St.  Thomas'  Parish  about  the  purchase 
of  lumber  began  in  1745.  ^Nlr.  Pagett  owned  a  large 
plantation  in  that  Parish,  which  by  the  marriage  of  his 
heiress  to  the  Rev.  Robert  Smith  became  the  property 
of  the  latter.  It  was  called  Brabants,  and  around  it 
cluster  many  traditions  of  the  Revolution.  There  the 
silver  of  St.  Philip's  Church  was  buried,  to  save  which 
from  the  British  marauders  the  overseer  allowed  himself 
to  be  hung  nearly  to  the  point  of  death  rather  than  dis- 
close the  place  of  concealment. 

A  contract  with  Mr.  James  Hartley  for  the  best 
black  cypress  lumber,  dated  February  15,  1745  (prob- 
ably 1745-1740),  names  50  shillings  a  hundred  for  the 
scantling  and  40  shillings  for  "  the  boards  and  plank 
three  (|uarter  inch  ])oar(ls  to  two  Inch  and  a  quarter 


PINCKNEY  HOUSE  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 

plank"— all  delivered  at  lot  near  Craven's  Bastion. 
Pagett,  Hartley,  Snow,  Villepontoux,  and  Coaclinian 
were  not  dealers  in  lumber  or  bricks  but  considerable 
planters  on  the  waters  of  the  Cooper  River.  It  is  very 
interesting  to  follow  the  manner  of  gathering  together 
all  the  materials,  for,  like  his  neighbors,  Mr.  Pinckney 
seems  himself  to  have  built  his  house.  Thus  we  find 
sundry  invoices  of  consignments  from  England.  An 
invoice  by  jMr.  James  Crokatt,  merchant  of  London,  by 
the  Betsey,  dated  :March  22, 1745-1746,  gives  the  details 
of  the  shipment  of  two  casks  of  "  Iron  mongers  wares," 
six  bottles  of  Linseed  Oil,  and  Sheet  and  Bar  Lead. 
Incidentally  we  mention  that  the  oil  cost  3s/3d  per 
gallon,  while  the  containers  (bottles  and  baskets)  cost 
in  the  aggregate  18  shillings;  the  sheet  lead  cost  15 
shillings  pr.  cwt. ;  and  the  bar  lead  cost  thirteen  shillings. 
An  invoice  of  May  15, 1746,  by  the  "  Barbadoes  Packet  " 
covers  sixteen  Rundlets  of  ground  white  lead  at  35  shill- 
ings, and  600  squares  of  the  best  Ratcliff  e  Crown  glass 
11  X  9  inches  at  11  d.  p.  ft.  It  is  noticeable  that  Mr. 
Crokatt's  invoices  bear  2;^  per  cent,  commission,  which 
was  7wt  charged,  for  the  item  was  extended  thus,  £0-0-0. 
The  insurance  charged  was  at  £15-15-0  per  Ct.  upon 
approximately  the  invoiced  values.  A  receipt  dated  in 
December,  1747,  by  Elihu  Baker  for  £70  "  in  full  for 
fresh  water  sand  delivered  at  the  new  building  "  shows 
that  the  Ashley  River  supplied  that  article  so  necessary 
in  the  making  of  mortar,  for  in  another  place  "  Dor- 
chester sand  "  is  spoken  of.  Dorchester  was  then  a 
village  on  the  Ashley  not  very  far  from  the  present 


365 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

town  of  Suninierville.  Its  fort  still  exists  in  ruins,  for 
it  was  built  as  a  frontier  protection  against  the  Indians, 
and  later,  in  the  Revolution,  was  held  alternately  by 
Americans  and  Hritish.  The  sole  vestiges  of  this  town 
are  the  broken  walls  of  the  tower  of  the  Parish  Church 
of  St.  George's,  Dorchester.  ^Ir.  Baker  belonged  to  a 
well-known  family  of  planters  long  settled  in  that 
neighborhood. 

In  planning  his  house  Mr.  Pinckney  seems,  for  com- 
parison, to  have  examined  carefully  those  of  sundry  of 
his  friends,  for  he  gives  details  of  Mr.  AVragg's  and  of 
Captain  Shubrick's,  and  mentions  those  of  Chief  Justice 
Whitaker,  Mr.  King,  the  Governor,  Mr.  Graeme  and 
others.  None  of  these  houses,  unhappily,  are  known  to 
exist,  but  the  mention  of  them  shows  that  houses  of  size 
and  good  finish  were  not  then  uncommon.  Tlie  head- 
bricklayer's  accounts  are  written  in  CTcrman  text,  and  a 
surprise  comes  when  it  is  discovered  that  his  name  is 
"  Black  ";  but  the  journeymen  employed  seem  to  have 
been  negroes. 

The  carpenters'  and  joiners'  work  was  supervised  by 
John  Williams,  who  seems  to  have  acquired  his  freedom 
while  the  house  was  being  built,  for  an  account  current 
with  him  gives  this  debit:  "  To  his  freedom  £750."  A' 
note  in  this  account  reads  thus:  "  Gave  him  at  3  times 
to  encourage  him  in  his  carving  work  &c  £60."  John 
^Villiams  seems  to  have  done  other  and  smaller  jobs  for 
his  employer,  for  he  is  credited  with  "  work  done  at  Sal- 
ketchers  &  Garden  Hill  33  days  making  indigo  Vats  at 
30  sh.,  say  £40-10."     Another  small  job  was  "making 


riN(  KNKY  IIOrSK  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 

Coops  to  carry  deer  to  Antigua  £5-10."  'Vhwc  was  a 
(lel)it  for  "  .'5  years  cV  l\  months  allowanee  at  £200  pr. 
anmiiii  from  1st  Jan.  174()  to  1st  A])ril,  17.)(), — i:()50." 
Tlie  January  1,  17-K),  is  evidently  IT-KJ-lT-iT,  for  it  must 
always  be  borne  in  mind  that  then  the  change  as  to  the 
commencement  of  the  year  had  not  been  definitely  ac- 
cepted and  dates  fallini^-  in  January,  February  and 
March  have  to  be  scrutinized  carefully  to  fix  positively 
which  year  is  meant,  as  we  count  them  now. 

The  specifications  of  the  proposed  Carpenters'  and 
Joiners'  work  dated  November  4,  174(5,  are  so  interest- 
ing that  we  give  it  in  full: 

"  1746— Nov' r.  4th. 

"  An  account  of  ('ar{)(.'ntcrs  and  Joiners  work  proposed 
"  to  he  done  in  a  Brick  house  for  Charles  Pinckney  Kscj.  at  the 
"  Nortli  end  of  the  Bay  of  Charles  Town  which  is  to  be  50  feet 
'•  Front  and  44  feet  in  depth  two  story  high,  on  cellars  rising 
••  ()  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  with  a  snug  dutch 
"  roof  but  the  pitcli  to  l)e  so  high  as  to  afford  garrets  eiglit 
"  feet  high  in  the  clear  and  hip  41/.  feet  high.  The  heightli 
"of  the  buildings  as  follows:  Tlie  cellar  Story  7  i\:  to  or  8 
"feet  high.  The  first  story  11  feet  high  in  tlie  clear.  The 
"second  story  11  feet,  hut  the  dining  room  ceiling  to  be  coved 
"  into  the  roof  so  as  to  make  that  room  at  least  14  feet  high 
"in  the  clear.  Tiie  garret  rooms  (exce{)ting  over  the  dining 
"  room)  to  he  7'  -^  or  8  feet  high  in  the  clear.  Tlie  whole  to  be 
"  executed  according  to  the  plans.'' 

Carpenters  work  on  the  Ci'llar  floar. 
Cellar  Eh)ar. 

2,   outside  cellar  door  frames  41/^  feet  wide — 
6   feet  2  In.  high  witli  a  heed  and  single  Architrave. 

367 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

4,   Inner  cellar  door  cases  with  a  heed — no  architrave. 
4,   closet  door  frames  with  a  heed. 
15,  cellar  window  frames  2  ft.  9  In.  wide  3  feet  high. 
2,   four  })annel  outside  doors — 
4,   pair  outside  cellar  window  shutters   panneld — All   the 

rest  of  the  Doors  and  w  indow  Shutters  on  this  floar  to 

be  ledged. 

One  flight  of  stairs,  under  the  great  stairs  with  plain 

hand  rail  to  go  up  to  the  first  floar. 

Kirbs  for  steps  down  to  the  Cellar  at  front  &  back  door. 

First  Floar. 

Carpenters  &  Joiners  work  on  the  first  floar. 
The  Girders  &  Joists  for  floaring  to  be  well  framed  with 
proper  wells  for  stairs  chimneys  as  according  to  Plann 
and  the  floar  to  be  well  laid  &  grovd  or  tongued. 

2,  outside  door  frames  double  architraves. 

7,  cases  or  door  frames  for  Inner  doors  to  be  lined. 

4,  closet  doors  single  architrave  &  beed. 

14,  sash  window  frames,  for  glass  11  x  9 — 18  pains  in  each 

window,  to  run  with  double  pullies,  and  to  have  three 

panneled  shutters. 
1,  one  large  Venitian  window  upon  the  half  pace  of  the 

Stairs  according  to  the  Plan. 

One  pair  of  great  stairs  up  to  the  2nd  floar  with  ramp 

Twist  &  Brackets. 
1,   front  door  with  8  pannelld  do. 
1,  back  door  6,  Do. 
7,  inside  doors  6,  Do. 

5,  Do.     Qosets— 4— Do. 
Shelves  in  3  closets. 

Best  parlour  18  ft.  by  20 — to  be  wainscotted  on  the 
Chimney  side,  witji  double  cornice  round,  surbase,  win- 
dow seats,  &  Jambs,  as  Capt.  Shubrick's  dining  room  is 
done. 

S68 


PIXCKNEY  HOUSE  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 

Tlic  hack  parlour,  study  and  office  with  only  surhase  & 
skirting  hoards  round,  t\:  plain  window  scats,  with  a  heed 
and  facings  to  the  window  Jambs;  hut  such  chimney  fac- 
ings as  in  C'apt.  Shuhricks  hack  parlour  &  douhle  cor- 
nice round. 

The  entry  with  Surhase  and  Skirting  hoard  round — and 
the  frame  of  the  floar  of  the  Entry  to  be  laid  in  such  a 
manner  as  that  the  boards  may  he  hereafter  taken  up 
as  the  same  he  paved  as  Mr.  C.  Justice  Whitakers  Entry 
is  &  corniced  douhle  thro'out. 

The  Stairs  to  he  wainscottcd  hand  rail  high. 

The  facings  of  the  walls  in  the  rooms  on  this  floar  to  have 
pieces  of  timber  placed  in  them  as  may  he  proper  to  fix 
wainscott  to,  if  I  should  hereafter  be  minded  to  wains- 
cott  all  this  floar. 

Second  Floar. 

Carpenters  and  Joiners  work  on  the  second  or  Dining-room 

Floar. 
The  Joists  and  Girders  to  be  well  framd  &  laid  and  floard  as 

the  first. 
The  partitions  on  this  story  shided  (sic),  the  story  11  foot 

high. 
The  dining  room  ceiling  to  be  coved  into  the  roof,  so  as  to 

make  this  room  at  least  14  foot  high  in  the  clear. 
N.  B.      This  room  is  intended  to  be  wainscotted  and  finished 

as  Mr.  Greemes  is,  if  the  charge  be  not  too  great,  and 

therefore  I  desire  the  charge  of  it  may  be  considered  bv 

itself  and  made  a  distinct  article  of. 
One  Balcony  12  by  8  foot. 
15,   sash  windows  on  this  story  finished  as  those  on  the  1st. 
1.   Balcony  door  douhle  shutters. 

6,   six  panneld  doors  the  frames  or  cases  double  arch't. 
6,  4  panneld  doors — 

S69 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

The  best  chamber  at  the  end  of  the  dining  room   to  be 

finished  as  the  best  parlour  is,  and, 
The  three  other  Chambers  in  the  same  manner  as  the  l)ack 

parlour. 
The   lobby    and   Staird   head   with    Surbase   and    skirting 

boards  round. 
A  flight  of  Stairs  up  into  the  garrets  as  in  the  plan.   Shelves 

in  three  closets. 

Garret  Floar. 

Carpenters  and  Joiners  work  on  the  garret  floar. 

The  floar  to  be  well  fram'd  laid  &  floard  as  the  other  floars 
are. 

The  roof  to  be  well  fram'd  &  bound  together  on  wall  plates 
and  with  purlincs,  Diagonal  Beams  etC  in  order  to 
secure  &  tye  the  whole  building  in ;  with  a  proper  pitch 
Pediment  in  the  front  of  the  roof  over  the  Balcony. 

There  can  be  no  garrets  over  the  dining  room  but  the  back 
front  is  to  be  divided  into  three  rooms  &  one  room  over 
the  best  cham'r. 

6,  4  panneld  doors. 

.5,  upright  windows  3  in  one  gable  end  and  two  in  the  other. 

5,  dormant  sashd  windows,  panneld  shutters. 

1,  compass  bowed  (.'')  window  on  the  stairs — One  sashd 
circle  in  the  gable  end — 12  lights  in  each  window — 
Shelves  in  2  closets. 

A  step  ladder  door  thro'  the  roof  to  the  chimneys. 

A  brick  cornice  on  the  two  fronts. 

The  bricklayers  to  be  bonded  throughout  for  cutting  lin- 
tells,  Tossells,  coulers,  and  discharging  going  (?)  ash- 
lers in  the  garret  rooms. 

All  locks  bolts  and  fastennings  to  be  fixd  and  the  whole 
house  within  and  without  to  be  finish'd  in  a  handsome 

substantial  and  workmanlike  manner  within  

months  next  unless  you  stay  for  materials. 
370 


PINCKNEY  HOUSE  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 

In  your  calculation  you  are  desired  to  distinguish  and  set 
down 

what  the  Carpenters  work  comes  to 
what  the  Joiners,  including  the  Dining  room 
and  what  without  the  dining  room,  and  what  the  stairs 
&  Venitian  window  separately  come  to. 

[These  specifications  are  backed  thus.]  "  Ac't  of 
work  to  be  done  in  my  new  house  in  Colleton  Square  by 
Carp'r  &  Joiner." 

This  house  of  Chief  Justice  Pinckney's  was  burnt  in 
the  great  fire  of  1861,  but  the  following  account  of  it 
was  written  by  a  descendant  who  knew  the  house  well, 
]Mrs.  St.  Julien  Ravenel,  in  her  life  of  "  Eliza  Pinckney," 
the  wife  of  the  Chief  Justice,  published  by  Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons,  in  1896: 

"  The  lot  occupied  the  whole  square  from  Market  to  Guig- 
"  nard  Streets,  on  the  western  side  of  East  Bay.  The  house 
"  stood  in  the  centre,  facing  east  to  the  water,  and  the  ground 
"  across  the  street,  down  to  the  water's  edge,  also  belonging  to 
"  the  family,  was  never  built  upon,  but  kept  open  for  air  and  for 
"  the  view.  It  was  of  small,  dark  English  brick,  with  stone  cop- 
"  ings,  and  stood  on  a  basement  containing  kitchens  and  offices. 
"  It  had,  besides  the  basement,  two  stories,  with  high  slated  roof, 
"  in  which  were  wine  and  lumber  rooms.  From  the  front  to  the 
"  back  door  was  a  wide  flagged  hall,  into  which  four  large  rooms 
"  opened ;  dining-room  and  bed-room  to  the  south,  library  and 
"  house-keeper's  room  to  the  north.  These  two  last  were  not 
"  as  large  as  the  southern  rooms,  for  the  staircase,  partly  accom- 
"  modated  by  a  projection  on  the  north  side  of  the  house,  came 
"  down  into  a  kind  of  side  hall  between  them.  The  window  on 
"this  staircase  (one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the 
"  house)  was  very  beautiful,  of  three  arches  with  heavilv  carved 

371 


THE  HOUSES  OF  CHARLESTON 

"  frames,  and  a  deep  window-seat  extending  the  whole  length  of 
"  the  landing-place.  On  the  second  story  were  five  rooms ;  the 
"  large  and  small  drawing-rooms  occupying  the  whole  east  front 
"  of  the  house,  the  large  one  a  very  handsome  room,  over  thirty 
"  feet  long,  with  high  coved  ceiling  and  heavy  cornice,  beauti- 
"  fully  ])ro})ortioned.  At  the  back  were  bedrooms,  and  the 
"  staircase  went  on  to  the  garrets  above. 

"  The  whole  house  was  wainscotted  in  the  heaviest  panelling, 
"  the  windows  and  doors  with  deep  projecting  j)ediments  and 
"  mouldings  in  the  style  of  Chamberlayne.  The  mantelpieces 
"  were  very  high  and  narrow,  with  fronts  carved  in  processions 
"  of  shepherds  and  shej)herdesscs,  cupids,  etc.,  and  had  square 
"  frames  in  the  panelling  alx)ve,  to  be  filled  with  pictures. 

"  This  house  differed  from  those  of  later  date  in  Carolina, 
"  by  having  the  kitchen  and  offices  in  the  basement, — an  almost 
"  unknown  thing  there  in  after  years, — and  in  the  absence  of  cx- 
"  tensive  piazzas.  In  front  there  was  only  a  high  flight  of  stone 
"  steps  with  a  small  canopied  porch,  at  the  back  a  small  piazza 
"  on  the  first  floor  only.  A  little  way  oflP,  along  the  northern 
"  edge  of  the  lot,  was  a  long  row  of  buildings,  servants'  rooms 
"  in  great  number,  stables,  coach-houses,  etc.  A  vegetable  gar- 
"  den  was  at  the  back,  and  grass  plats  with  flower  beds  filled  the 
"  southern  part  of  the  lot,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  town." 

A  photof^raph  of  the  ruins  of  this  old  house,  taken 
before  they  were  removed,  enables  us  to  form  some  idea 
of  its  appearance.  A  plat,  made  in  1801,  when  the  City 
enlarged  East  Bay  Street,  shows  walls  curving  in  from 
the  street  to  the  fiight  of  stone  steps  that  led  up  to  the 
})ortic(),  and  the  remains  of  these  walls  are  to  he  seen  in 
the  photograj)h. 

AVe  have  hut  few  statements  of  the  cost  of  building 
during  the  period  from  1740  to  1770,  but  Mr.  Josiah 
Quincy,  Jr.,  as  before  stated,  has  given  us  the  cost  of  the 

372 


£.  — 


=5   7. 


PIXCKNEY  HOUSE  IN  COLLETON  SQUARE 

Brewton-Alston-Pringle  house,  which  he  places  at  £8000 
sterHng,  but  this,  we  may  suppose,  covered  the  entire  cost 
of  the  property.  This  amount  taken  at  seven  to  one  would 
put  it  at  £56,000  currency.  Dr.  Dalcho,  in  his  history 
of  the  Church  in  South  Carolina,  puts  the  cost  of  St. 
[Michael's  Church,  which  was  finished  early  in  1761,  at 
£53,633-18/9  currency,  which  amount  undoubtedly  cov- 
ered only  the  building  cost.  Dalcho  gives  the  price  of 
bricks  as  $3  per  1000,  which  would  be  equal  to  about 
£■1-4/  in  currency.  ^Ir.  Pinckney,  in  1745,  estimated 
that  his  bricks  would  cost  him  £5  currency  per  1000. 
One  curious  in  such  matters  may  refer  again  to  the  Act 
of  1740,  already  quoted  herein,  which  in  the  face  of  a 
great  calamity  established  the  maximum  prices  to  be 
charged  for  materials  and  for  labor  in  rebuilding  the 
town.  A  comparison  of  these  prices  with  those  of  to-day 
involves,  of  course,  consideration  of  the  "  purchasing 
power  "  of  money  at  the  various  dates. 

Although  this  Pinckney  house  and  many  others  of  its 
own  and  earlier  dates  have  disappeared,  yet  fortunately 
much  remains  in  Charleston  to  mark  a  continuity'  in  the 
character  of  its  people  as  well  as  in  its  architecture. 
May  it  not  therefore  be  hoped  that  what  has  accidentally 
been  preserved  may  be  long  retained,  and  not  marred 
by  new  and  strange  ideas,  which,  however  suitable  to 
places  that  have  developed  them,  would  be  in  Charles- 
ton merely  imitation,  and  would  perhaps  destroy  those 
very  differences  that  make  the  place  so  interesting?  It 
is  not  what  is  new,  however,  but  what  is  incongruous 
that  should  be  avoided. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Acadian   exiles,   175 

Adam,  influence  of,  27 

Aiken,  William,  120 

Aiken,  Gov.  William,  298,  300 

Albemarle,  Duke  of,  19 

Albemarle     Point,    first    settlement, 

17,  31,  119 
Alexander,  John,  161 
Allen,  Andrew,  104,  127 
Allen,  Jane   (Mrs.  Robert  Pringle), 

104,  127 
Allen,  John,  104 
Allston,       Gov.       Robert       Francis 

Withers,  156,  331 
Alston,  Charles,  63,  180 
Alston,  Mrs.  Faneuil,  223 
Alston,  John  Ashe,  40,  249 
Alston,  Col.  William,  101,  102,  180 
Amory,  Hugh,  272 
Amory,  Jonathan,  271 
Anabaptist  Meeting   House,  31,  57 
Ancrum,  James  H.,  188,  273 
Ancrum,  Mrs.  Jane,  188 
Ancrum,  John,  270,  272,  273 
Anson,  Lord,  281,  282,  283,  284 
Apalachia,   expedition   against,   20 
Arbuthnot,  Admiral,  58,  199 
Argyle,  Duke  of,  77 
Ash,  or  Ashe,  John,  immigrant,  192 
Ashe,  Col.  J.  A.  S.,  191 
Ashe,  Col.  John,  191,  192 
Ashe,  Richard  Cochran,  191 
Ashley,  Lord,  see  Shaftesbury 
Atta    KuUakulla,   a   Cherokee   chief, 

239 
Auendaw  Barony,  137 
Axtell,   Ann    (Mrs.   Joseph   Boone), 

161,   162 
Axtell,  Landgrave  Daniel,  161 
Axtell,  Lady  Rebecca,  161 


B 


Baker,  Elihu,  365,  366 

Balfour,  Lt.  Col.  Nisbct,  195 

Bank   of  Charleston,  262 

Bank  of  the  United  States,  38,  260 

Barbadoes,  immigration  from,  24 


Harbot,  Anthony,  120 

Barker,  Major  Theodore  G.,  224 

Baron,  Dr.  Alexander,  248 

Barony,  Auendaw  or  Secwer,  137 

Barony,    Wadboo,   342 

Barre,"  Col.,  315 

Battery  Ramsay,  63 

Battery  Wagner,  39,  63 

Baylor,    Col.,   102,    187 

Beau  fain.  Hector  Berenger  de,  315, 

316,  317 
Bee,   John,   226 
Bee,  William  C,  224 
Beef  Market,  38,  64,  259,  260 
Bennett,  Mrs.  Ann  Hayes,  323 
Bennett,  Jefferson,  321,  322',  327,  328 
Bennett,  Thomas,  Sr.,  321,  322,  331 
Bennett,  Gov.  Thomas,  Jr.,  322,  326, 

331 
Berenger    de    Beaufain,    Baron    de, 

316 
Berkeley,  Lord,  19 
Berkeley,  Sir  William,  19 
Bertody,  Major,   184 
Betsy  Baker,  a  race  horse,  102 
Blacklock,  William,  318 
Blake,  Hon.  Daniel,  67,  87 
Blake,    Edward,   207,   208,   209,   211 
Blake,  Lady  Elizabeth,  161 
Blake,  Mrs.  Elizabeth   (Mrs,  Daniel 

Blake),  67,  68,  77,  78,  S'l,  86 
Blake,  John,  209 
Blake,    Joseph,    161 
Bolton,  Thomas,  208 
Bonnet,  Stede   (the  pirate  captain), 

209,  273 
Boone,  Charles,  162 
Boone,  Joseph,  161,  162 
Boone,  Gov.  Thomas,  67,  162 
Bouquet,  Lt.  Colonel,  175,  307 
Bowling  Green,  The,  282 
Bowman,  Mr.,  331 
Brabant's   (Plantation),  364 
Brahm,  Major  John  William  Gerard 

de,   173,   174,   175,   195 
Branford,  William,  119 
Branford,     William,     grandson     of 

William,  104,  119,  191 
Branford,      Mrs.      William,      born 

Elizabeth  Savage,  104 


379 


INDEX 


Brewton,  Col.  Miles,  43,  45,  46,  162 
Brewton,  Miles,  son  of  Col.   Robert, 

47,  8(i,  87,  93,  99,  100,  131,  207 
Brewton,  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Col. 

Miles 

See   Rebecca   Motte 
Brewton,  Col.  Robert,  43,  45,  46,  47, 

48 
Brisbane,  James,  188 
Brisbane,  William,  89 
Broadp.itli,  The,  see  Highway 
Broiighton's     Batterv,     or     Bastion, 

58,  ()3,  173,  174,  176 
Brougliton,  Col.  Thomas,  45 
Brown,  The  Misses,  299 
Brvfin,    Hon.    George    D.,    249,   277, 

347 
BuflFon,  Count,  68 

Building  materials  and  wages,  maxi- 
mum prices,  36 
Bull,  Anne,  67 
Bull,  Charlotte,  86 
Bull,  Elizabeth,  86 
Bull,  Capt.  John,  64,  67,  68,  81,  86 
Bull,  Mrs.  Marv,  68,  81 
Bull,  Stephen,  85 
Bull,  William,  I.t.  Gov.  (1683-1755), 

37,   86,   87,   89 
Bull.  William,  Lt.  Gov.   (1710-1791), 

37.  67,  86,  87,  88,  315 
Burden,  Kinsey,  99 
Burke,   Edmund,  32 
Butler,  Capt.    I^wis,  307 
Butler,  Major  Pierce,  87,  195 


Campbell,   Lady   William,   77,  86 
Campbell,  Lord  William,  67,  77,  87, 

267 
Ciinnon.  Daniel.  321,  331 
Capers,    liiehard,  47 
Caj)ers,  Capt.  William,  47 
Cardross,      Lord,      his      colony      de- 

st roved,   20 
Car<ly".    Sanniel,   356,   35T 
Carni-,    Dr.   Samuel.   239 
Carteret's    Bastion.    17 
Carteret,  Lord,  18 
Carteret,    Sir    George,    19 
Chambers,    Sir    William,    26 
Chancognie,  Simon  Jude,  68 
C  harlestoti  Club.  196 
Chatham,  Earl  of  (William  Pitt). 

6.3.  137,  315 


Cherokee   War,  20,   174 

Circular    Church,    see    Independent 

Meeting    House,  64 
Citadel,    301,    302 
City  Hall,  38,  63,  64,  259 
City       Square,       now       Washington 

Square,  260 
Clarendon.   Earl  of,  19 
Clark,  Capt.  Charles,   196 
Clark,   J.    C..    191 
Clarksoii,  William,  317 
Clinton,  Sir  Henrv,  58,  100,  177,  301, 

307 
Clitheral,  Dr.,  240 
Coachman,  James,  364,  365 
Cole's  Island  Port,  345 
College  of  Charleston,  142,  308 
Colleton's   Bastion,   17,  58 
Colleton,  Landgrave  James,  .342 
Colleton,  Sir  John,  an  original  Lord 

Proprietor,  19,  342 
Colleton,  Hon.  John,  269 
Colleton,  Sir  Peter,  269 
Colleton  Square,  269,  270,  363,  371 
Coming,  Mrs.   .Vffra,  311,  312 
Coming's  Creek,  321,  331,  333 
Coming,  Capt.  John,  311 
Coming's  Point,  312 
Confederate   School,  260 
Conner,  Henry  W.,  200 
Conner,  Gen.  James,  89,  200 
Conseill^re,    Benjamin    de    la,    223, 

224,    226 
Conseillere's  Creek,  207,  226 
Coosaw  or  Bull's  Island,  67 
Cornwallis,  Lord,  192,  240 
Court   House,  259,  260 
Courtenav,    William    A.,    Mavor    of 

Charleston.    9,    32 
Courtney,  William   C,  196,  199 
Craven,  Earl  of,  19 
Craven's   Bastion,    18,   19,  364 
Crisp.  Edward,  his  survey,  17,  18,  57 
Crokatt,  James,  :}(i5 
Cidpep])er.   John,   311 
Custom  House,  New,  268 


D 


Dalcho.  Rev.   Doctor.  32.  37.5 

Dale.  Dr.  Thomas,  43 

Dale.  .Mrs.  'I'hoiuas.  daughter  of  Col. 

.Miles  Brewton,  43 
Dart,  John   Sand  ford.  49 
Daughters   of   the   Confederacy.   270 


880 


INDEX 


Daughters  ot  the   Revolution,  ;P70 

Dean,  David,  -J-JG 

Deas,    John,    89 

Dehon,  Mrs.,  wife  of   Bishop,  156 

Dehon,  Bishop  Theodore,  153 

Dehon,  Dr.   Theodore,   156 

Dehon,  Rev.  William,  156 

DeSaussure,  Judge,  318 

DeSaussure,  i^ouis  D.,  184 

Dorchester   Fort,  344,  365 

Dorrell's  Fort,  58 

Dowie,  Mrs.   Robert  B.,   190 

D'Oyley,  Daniel,  1:23 

Doyiey',   Mrs.,  38 

Drayton,  Hon.  John,  86,  87,  89 

Drayton,  Thomas,  86,   87 

Drayton,  William,   Chief  Justice  of 

f:ast  Florida,  49 
Drayton,   Col.    William,    49 
Drayton,  William   Henry,  87,  -267 
Dubois,   Jeanne,  58 
Dunkin,  Mrs.  William  Huger,  120 
Dupont  &    Goodbee,   364 
Durham,  County  Palatine,  IS 


Edisto  River,  20 

Edmonston,  Charles,   180 

Edwards,    George,    221 

Edwards,    John,    196-199 

Ellerv,  Thomas,  269 

Elliott,   Barnard,   133 

Elliott,  Charles,  187 

Elliott,  John,  239 

Elliott,       Mrs.    Juliet       Georgiana, 

born   Gihbes,   133,   134 
Elliott,  William,  57 
Elliott,  William  of  Accabee,  78 
Elliott-Rowand    Bible,    190 
Eiitaw,  Battle  of,  187 
E%eleigh,    George,   64,    249 
Exchange   (old  Postoffice),  262,  268 


Fenwicke,  Mrs.   Edward,  240 
Ferguson,  Thomas,  225,  226 
Ferguson,  Mrs.  Ann,  299 
Ficken,  Henry  H.,  88,  89 
Ficken,  Hon.  John,  321 
Fidling,  Francis,  190 
Fireproof  Record  Building,  260 
Fires,  Destructive,  32,  35 
Fitzsimons,      Miss,      Librarian      of 
Charleston  Library,  8 


Fitzsimons,  Christopher,  273,  274 
Fitzsimons,      Christopher,      son      of 

Christopher,    2V3 
Fitzsimons,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Porcher, 

273 
Fort  Johnson,  58,   124 
Fort  Ix)udoun,  174,  239 
Fort  Mechanic,   63,  175,  176,  181 
Fort  Sumter,  302 

Fotheringham,    Dr.    Alexander,    127 
Fotheringham,  Isabella,  127 
Fraser,  Alexander,  162,  224 
Eraser,  Charles  (miniature  painter), 

63,  81,  224.  225,  226,  267,  308,  322 
Fraser,  Dr.  James,  169 
Fraser,  John,  160 
Fraser,  Major,  342 
Fraser,  Mrs.  Mary,  169 
Free    School    Lands,   305,    306,    307 

308,  311 
French  Church,  see  Huguenot  Church 
Frost,  Judge  Edward,  233 
Frost,  E.  Horry,  184 
Frost,  W.  Branford,  191 


G 


Gadsden's   Creek,  297 

Gadsden,  Gen.  Christopher,  191,  199, 
282,  283,  284,  315 

Gadsden,  Capt.  Christopher,  U,  S. 
Navy,  191 

Gadsden,  Mrs.  Mary,  born  Ashe,  191 

Gadsden,  Thomas,  father  of  Gen. 
Christopher,   281 

Gadsden,  Capt.  Thomas,  Conti- 
nental Line,   191 

Gadsden,  Thomas  Xorman,  255 

Gaillard,  Theodore,  Jr.,  328 

Garden,  Major  Alexander,  199 

Garden,    Rev.    .Vlexander,  271 

Gates,    Gen.    Horatio,    133 

Gibbes  Art  Gallery,  292 

Gibbes,  James  S.,  292 

Gibbes,  Mrs.  Joseph  S.,  328 

Gibbes,  Mrs.  Marv  Evans,  134 

Gibbes,  Robert,  89 

Gibbes,  Col.  Robert,  45,  46 

Gibbes,  William,  207,  208,  209,  211 

Gibbs,  James,  English  architect,  35T 

Gibbs'  Fort,  63 

Gillon,  Commodore,  240 

Glover,  Wilson,    196 

Golightlv,  Culcheth,  226 


381 


INDEX 


Goodwin,  Charles,  88 

Gourdin,  Henry,  189 

Governor's  Bridfre,  '39,  JdO,  'Mi 

Grace  Church,  313 

Grainger,  Caleb,  i?70 

Grant,  Hary,  169 

Granville's  Bastion,  17,  18,  19,  35,  38, 

58,  159,  168,  169,  173,  176 
Grasse,  Comte  de,  199 
Greene,  Gen.  Nathaniel,  73 
Grimball,  John,  78 
Grinike,  John   Fanchraud,  210 
Grinike,  Thonuui   Smith,  209   210 
Guerard,  Gov.  Benjamin,  86,  87 
Guerard,  Octavius,'322,  325 
Guerard's  house,  38 
Guilford    Court    House,    Battle    of, 

240 
Gullah   Jack,   302 


H 


Haig,  Dr.  Mahani,  74 

Hall,  Arthur,  190,  191 

Halsev,  Mrs.   E.  I..,  326 

Halsev,  R.  T.  Haines,  81 

Hampstead,  334. 

Hampstead  Creek,  297 

Hampton  Park,   17,  334 

Hampton,  Col.  Wade,  of  Revolution, 
later  Major  General,  U.  S.  A.,  278 

Hampton,  Col.  Wade,  son  of  Revo- 
lutionary Colonel,  ?74,  278 

Hampton,  Gen.  Wade,  Confederate 
States  Army,  200,  274,  278 

Harleston,  Edward,  312 

Harleston,  John,  312 

Harleston,  John,  2nd  of  name,  312 

Harleston,  Nicholas,   312 

Hartley,  James,  364,  365 

Harvey,  Benjamin,  249 

Harvey,  Wiliiam,  249 

Hasell",  James,   Jr.,   270 

Hayne,  Col.  Arthur  P.,  221 

Havne,   Mrs.   Elizabeth,  88 

Hayne,  Col.  Isaac,  192,  194,  267 

Hayne,  Robert  Young,  U.  S.  Sena- 
tor, 88 

Hayne,  Miss  Susan,  88 

Hesse,  Lieutenant,  174,  307 

Hey  ward,  Irvine  Keith,  248 

Heyward,  Nathaniel,  137 

Hiph  Battery,  17,  58,  88,  167,  176, 
180 

High  School,  131,  140,  142 


High  Way,  The,  272,  278,  281,  282, 
297,  30l" 

Hodsden,   John,   64,   74 

Hold  ring's  Creek,  223 

Holmes,  Charlotte  R.,  191 

Holmes,  George  S.,  221,  259,  357 

Holmes,  Henry  S.,  292 

Holmes  house,"  63,  176,  181,  182 

Holmes,  John   B.,   199 

Horlbeck,  Dr.  Henry  B.,  348 

Horllieck,  Peter   and  John,  262 

Horn-Work,  The,  301,  305 

Horry,  Mrs.,   22() 

Horry,  Col.  Daniel,  119 

Horry,  Elias,  Huguenot  immigrant, 
119 

Horry,  Elias,  grandson  of  imxni- 
gra'nt,  119 

Horry,  Elias,  son  of  Thomas,  104, 
120*,  233 

Horry,  Col.    Hugh,  119 

Horry,  Gen.  Peter,  119 

Horry,  Samuel,  58 

Horry,  Thomas,  grandson  of  immi- 
grant, 104,  119 

Horry,  Mrs.  Thomas,  born  Ann 
Branford,  104,  120 

Horse-Guards,  35 

Huger,  Mrs.  Arthur  M.,  47 

Huger,  Major  Benjamin,  301 

Huger,  Col.   Cleland   K.,  207 

Huger,  Daniel,  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil, 78 

Huger,  Daniel  Elliott  (Judge),  78, 
82 

Huger,  Col.  Francis  Kinloch,  78,  81 

Huger,  John  (Secretary  of  the 
State),  49,  308 

Huger,   Mrs.    John,    196 

Huger.  William    Elliott,    64 

Hughson,  Shirley  Carter,  account  of 
]>irates,  46,  178 

Huguenot  Church,  38 

Hunter,  George,  Surveyor  General, 
269,  282 

Hunter's   Map,  21,  272 


I 


Independent     Meeting-House     (Cir- 
cular Church),  31,  64,  177 
Irving,  Dr.  James,  49 
Irving.  John  B.,  102 
Izard,   Elizabeth,  250 
Izard,  Joseph,  67 


382 


INDEX 


Izard,  Ralph,  father  of  Lady  Wil- 
liam Campbell,  77,  249,  250 

Izard,  Ralph,  father  of  Mrs.  Poin- 
sett, i?50 

Izard,  Ralph  (U.  S.  Senator),  124, 
195 

Izard,  Ralph  Stead,  brother  of  Mrs. 
Poinsett,  250 

Izard,  Mrs.  Rosetta  Ella,  250 

Izard,  Sarah  (see  Lady  William 
Campbell) 


Jackson,  Gen.  Andrew,  221 
James  Island,  20,  58,  63 
Jahnz,  K.  H.,  318 
Jasper  Monument,  58 
Jefferson,  President,  124 
Johnson's    HaJf-Moon    Battery,   259 
Johnson,  Major  John,  73 
Johnson,  Dr.  Joseph,  7.1,  74 
Johnson,  Sir   Nathaniel,   137.  271 
Johnson,  Gov.  Robert,  46,  178 
Johnson,  William,  73 
Johnson,  William,  Justice  U.  S.  Su- 
preme Court,  73 
Jones,  John,  196 


K 


Kincaid,  George,  207,  208 

King,  Judge  Mitchell,  131,  140,  141, 

250 
Kinloch,  Francis,  169 


Ladson,  Major  James,  203 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  78,  81,  255 

Lambert,    Rev.   John,  306 

Lambdoll's    Bridge,    174 

Laurens,  Henrv,  President  of  Con- 
gress, 247,  282,  283,  284,  285,  286, 
?91,  334 

I^aurens,  Henrv,  son  of  Hon.  Henrv, 
285 

Laurens,  James,  247 

Laurens.  Col.  John,  286 

Le  Brasseur,  Francis.  281,  282,  286 

Lee,   Henry,   Lieut.   Col.,  278 

Lee,  James,  169 

Legar6,  Samuel.  208,  209 

Locke.  John,  161 

Lords  Proprietors,  names  of,  19 


Lovcll,  Major  James,  90 

Lowndes,  Charles  T.,  160 

Lowndes,  Rawlins,  President  of 
South  Carolina,  123,  124,  224,  225, 
233 

Ixjwndes,  Rawlins,  great-grandson 
of  Rawlins  Lowndes,  President  of 
South   Carolina.   160 

Lowndes,    Hon.    William,   233 

Lucas,  Jonathan,  331 

Lvncii,   Right   Rev.  Patrick,  250 

Lviich,  'rhoma.s,  Sr.,  48,  49,  315 

Lyttleton,  Gov.,  306 

Lyttleton's  Bastion  or  Middle  Bas- 
tion, 173,  175 


M 


Mackenzie,  Robert,  207,  208 

Magnolia,  22-* 

Manigault,  Gabriel  (son  of  Hugue- 
not inunigrant).  137 

Manigault,  Gabriel  (son  of  Peter 
and  great-grandson  of  Hugue- 
not), 134,  292 

Manigault,  Dr.  Gabriel,  134 

Manigault,   Harrv,  203 

Manigault,  Joseph,  119,  131,  134,  137, 
292,  298 

Manigault,  Peter  (Sjjeaker  of  Com- 
mons House),  137,  301 

Mariners  Church,  57 

Marion,  Gen.  Francis,  49,  342 

Market   Hall.  270 

Marshall,  Mrs.  R.  M.,  64,  249 

Marshall,  Rev.  Samuel,  311 

Matthewes,  Miss  Ann  McP.,  168 

Matthewes,  James,  127 

Matthewes,  John   Fiaven,  168 

Matthews,   Anthony,    73 

Matthews,  George,  67,  73 

Matthews,  Maurice,  339 

Maybank,  Dr.,  199 

Maz.vck,  Isaac,  the  immigrant,  261, 
281 

Mazvck,  Paul,  261,  -262 

McAlister,  Archibald,  271,  272,  273 

McBec,  Miss.  333 

McCabe.   Gordon.   Jr..  223 

McCall.  Hext,  88 

McCradv.  Col.  Kdward.  historian.  74 

McXeill",  Dr.  Archibald,  127 

McXeill,  Mrs.  Mary.  127 

-McPherson.  James.  255 

McPherson,  Gen.  John.  255 


S8S 


INDEX 


.MiMiiminfrcr  School,  312 

Middle      Bastion      (see     I.yttleton's 

Bastion). 
Middlesex,  -'83,  i?8+ 
Middleton,    Arthur,  son   of  Thomas, 

135 
Middleton,  Henry,  2(rA 
Middleton,      Henry,      President     of 

C'onfrress,  8G,  8f),"jl0 
Mid<lleton,  John,  100,  132,  133 
Middleton   Place,  224 
Middleton,  Thomas,  137 
Middleton,  Sir  William  Fowle,  132 
Mikell,  Jenkins,  321 
Mills,  Otis,  89 
Missroon,   Capt.,   168,   169 
Mitchell,  Julian,  190 
Moffett,  George  ri.,  Kil,  167 
Moncrieff,  Mr.,  99 
Monk,  Gen.  George,  see  Albemarle 
Montagu,  Lord  Charles  Greville,  67, 

315 
Montaigut,  Samuel,  316 
Moore,  Gov.  James,  209,  271 
Moore,  Roger,  209 
Morris,  Cai)t.  Charles  Manigault,  78 
Morris  Island,  39 
Morris,  Col.  Lewis,  78,  86 
Motte,  Major  Charles,  49 
Motte,  Frances,  132 
Motte,    Hannah,  daughter  of  Jacob 

Motte,  Sr.,  48,  49 
Motte,  Col.  Isaac,  48,  74,  307 
Motte,    Jacob     (Public    Treasurer), 

47,  48,  74 
Motte,    Jacob,    Jr.     (son    of    Jacob 

Motte),  47,  48,  131 
Motte,    Mary,    daughter    of    Jacob 

Motte,  Sr.,"  49 
Motte,     Rebecca,    daughter    of    Col. 

Robert    Brewton,  4(),  48,   100,   101, 

131 
Motte,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Jacoi),  the 

elder,  48 
Moultrie,  .Alexander,  325 
Moidtrie,  Gen.  William,  48,  49,  240 
.Mount  Ple.-usant,  20 
Mount      /ion      African      Methodist 

Church,  313 
.Mulberry,  'I  he    (i)lantation),  346 
MuUally",  Dr.  Lane,  1.56 
.Murdeii,  The  Misses,  222 


N 

-Neptune,  old   English  coast   survey, 

19,  307 
Newe,  Thomas,  340 
Newington,    Blake    plantation,   67 
.\ew  Market,  334 
Nicholson,  James,  333 
North  Charleston,  335 


O 


Oglethorpe,     Gen.    James     Kdward, 

visit  to  Bull's  Island,  67 
Old  Town,  17 
Oldvs  Creek,  207,  223 
Oliphant,  Dr.  David,  195 
Olvphant,    Talbot,    195 
O'Ncall,  Judge,  233 
O'Neill,  Frank.  184 
Orange  Garden,  239,  247 
Orphan  House,  301,  305,  308,  332 
Ovster  Point,  17,  31,  311,  340 


Pagett,  John,  364,  365 
Palmetto   ])laiitatioii,  33() 
Parker,  Dr.  Edward  F.,  200 
Parker,   Mrs.    Francis   Le   Jau,   226, 

233 
I'arker,  Isaac,  222 
Parker,  William  Henry,  226 
Parsons,  James,  49 
Patey,  Theophilus,  161 
Pelzer,  Francis  J.,  131,  156 
Peronneau,  Henry,  49 
Petit  N'ersailles,  282.  286 
Petrie,   Alexander,  239 
Petrie,  Mrs.   Alexander,  240 
Petrie,  Mrs.  Edmund,  141 
Pincknev,  Charles,  Chief  Justice,  8, 

39,  269,  361,  36.5,  366,  367,  371,  375 
Pinckney,    Col.    Charles,    nephew    of 

Chief  Justice,  225 
Pincknev,  Mrs.  Charles,  born   Brew- 
ton,  100 
Pincknev,   Gen.  Charles   Cotesworth, 

133 
Pincknev,   Mrs.   Charles   Cotesworth, 

8 
Pinckney,  Eliza,  born  Lucas,  39,  271 
Pinckney,     Lt.     Thomas,    of     Royal 

.Americans,  307 
Pincknev,    Gen.    Thomas,    101.    13-?, 

133.   H9.   233 


S84 


INDEX 


Pincknej',  Col.  Thomas,  son  of  Gen. 
Thomas  Pinckney,  250 

Pinckney,  Capt.  Thomas,  grandson 
of  General  Thomas  Pinckney,  40 

Pitt  Statue  (see  Earl  of  Chatham) 

Plum  Island,  177 

Poinsett,  Hon.  Joel  R.,  250,  253 

Poinsett,  Mrs.  Joel  R.,  249,  250,  253, 
347 

Polony,  Dr.  John  Lewis,  68,  73 

Porcher,  Mrs.  Wilmot,  184 

Port  Koyal,  20 

Postell,  James,  2^5 

Postell,  John,  239 

Post  Office  (new),  259,  268 

Presbyterian  Church  Second  or 
Flynn's  Church,  204,  300 

Pringle,  Ashmead  F.,  222 

Pringle,  Ernest  H.,  Jr.,  192 

Pringle,  Hon.  James  R.,  333 

Pringle,  John  Julius  (Attorney 
General),  104,  124 

Pringle,  John  Julius,  son  of  At- 
torney General,  253 

Pringle,  Mrs.  John  Julius  (see  Mrs. 
Joel  R.  Poinsett) 

Pringle,  Judge  Robert,  103,  104,  120, 
123,  124,  127 

Pringle,  Walter,  240 

Pringle,  William  Alston,  127 

Pringle,  Mrs.  AVilliam  Bull,  born 
Alston,  103 

Prioleau,  Martha,  196 

Pritchard,  Catherine,  274 

Pritchard,  Paul,  274 

Purcell,  a  noted  surveyor,  176 

Putnam,  Col.  H.  S.,  assault  on  Bat- 
tery Wagner,  63 

Q 

Quaker  Meeting-House,  31 
Quarter  House,  278 
Quince,  Parker,  270,  272 
Quincy,  Josiah,  Jr.,  262,  267,  372 

R 

Radcliffe,  Thomas,  141 

Ramsay,  Dr.  David,  historian,  224 

Ramsay,  Major  David,  63 

Rantowles,  187,  224 

Rattray,  John,  282,  283 

Ravenel,    Daniel,    of    Broad    Street, 

260 
Ravenel,  Mrs.  Daniel,  born  Mazyck, 

262 


Ravenel,   Daniel,   son   of   Daniel,   of 

Broad  Street,  196 
Ravenel,  John,  184 
Ravenel,   Harriott   Horry,   her   Life 

of  Eliza  Pinckney,  8,  39,  226,  269, 

371 
Ravenel,  "  Liste,"  58 
Ravenel,  Rene,  262 
Ravenel,  Dr.  St.  Julien,  184 
Ravenel,  William,  182 
Read,  Gen.   Jacob,  328 
Read,  Motte  Alston,  dedication  to,  5 
Read,  Dr.  William,  90 
Reid,  James,  358 
Reynolds,  George  X.,  J*r.,  137 
Rhett,  Mrs.  Burnet,  298 
Rhett,     Catharine,     married     Roger 

Moore,  209 
Rhett,      Mary,      married      Richard 

Wright,  270,  271 
Rhett,  Hon.  R.  Goodwyn,  249,  255 
Rhett,    Mrs.    Sarah,    widow    of    Col. 

M'illiam,    later    married    Nicholas 

Trott,   270,   271,   281 
Rhett,    Col.    William,    46,    178,    209, 

270,  271,  272,  273,  274 
Rliett,  William,  270,  273 
Rhettsbury    or    Rhett's    Point,    270, 

271,  272,  277,  281,  283,  312 
Richardson,  Gov.  John  Peter,  302 
Rigsfs,  John  S.,  137 

Riggs,  Sidney,  131,  134,  292 
Rivers,  John,  196 
Riverside  Infirmary,  331 
Robertson,  George,  192 
Robertson,   Jenkins   M.,   89 
Roche,  Jordan,  46,  47 
Rochefoucault-I.iancourt,  Due  de  la, 

26,  68,  187,  237,  345 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  249,  250 
Roman  Catholic  Cathedral,  39 
Roper,    William,    of    East    Battery, 

183 
Roper,  William.  162,  173 
Rosetta,  a  race  horse,  102 
Ross,  Miss,  192,  195 
Roupell,  George,  237 
Roupell,  :Miss  Polly,  237 
Roupelmonde,  a  plantation,  237 
Royal  Americans,  174,  175,  307 
Ruddock,  Mr.,  73 
Russell,  Nathaniel,  142,  149,  155 
Rutledge,  Gov.  Edward,  247 
Rutledtre,   Dictator   John,   224,   225, 

2.54,  315,  316 


385 


INDEX 


Sallev,  A.  S.,  Jr.,  48,  3+0 

Sandy  Hill  Plantation,  187 

Sarrazen,  Jonathan,  ^'i^ 

Sass,  The  Misses,  -22:! 

Sass,  Herbert   Havenel,  22\ 

Savage,  Benjamin,  104 

Savage,  Mrs!  Mary  Elliott,  187 

Savage,  Thomas,  188 

Sawegan,  Mrs.,  38 

Sayle,  William,  first  Governor,  17 

Secession   Hall,  255 

Shafteshurv,     Earl     of,     previouslv 

Lord  Ashley,  19,  161,  339 
Shamrock      Terrace       (Missroon 

House),  \m 
Shcciit,  Dr.,  174,  305,  314,  315,  317 
Siiinner,  Chief  Justice,  1;23 
Shirras,  Alexander,  293 
Shooll)red,  James,  328 
Shubrick,  Capt.  Thomas,  48,  49,  2J4, 

226,  282 
Siegling,  Mrs.   Rudolph,  183 
Simmons,  Benjamin,  322 
Simmons,  James,  89 
Simons,  Tliomas  Grange,  322 
Simons,  Dr.  Thomas  Grange,  318 
Simonton,  Hon.  Charles  H.,  223 
Simpson,  Sir  William,  192 
Sisters  of  Our  Eadv  of  Mercv,  156 
Skirving,  Dr.  Philip,  73 
Sloan,  Col.  J.   B.  E.,  209,  210 
Smith,  Benjamin,  Assistant  Justice, 

123 
Smith,  Dr.  George,  178,  336 
Smith,    Hon.    Henrv   A.   M.,  8,   204, 

316,  342 
Smith,  Joseph  Allen,  192 
Smith,  Rev.  Josiah,  177,  178,  336 
Smith,  Josiah,  Jr.,  177,  178,  192,  196, 

210,  336 
Smith,  Peter,  209,  210 
Smith,  lU.  Rev.  Robert,  204,  308,  364 
Smith.  Mrs.  Sarah,  209 
Smith,  Thomas,  1st  Eandgrave,  178, 

210,3.36 
Smitli,  Thomas,  162 
Smith,    Thomas,    brother   of    Benja- 
min Smith.  209 
Smith,  Mrs.  Thomas,  38 
Smith,  Thomas  Rhett,  89 
Smith,  William   Mason,  204 
Smith,  Mrs.  William  Mason,  53 
Smyth,  J.  Adger.  211 
Smyth,   Rev.  Thomas,   204 


Smythe,  Mrs.  Augustine,  -122 

Snow,  Nathaniel,  364,  365 

Solomon,  Cornelius,  364 

Sommers,  Humj)hrev,  224,  226 

Sothell,  Gov.  Seth,  342 

South  Carolina  Society,  286 

Stair,  Jesse  W.,  Jr.,  134 

St.  Andrew's  Hall,  39,  255 

St.  Augustine,  20,  177,  199,  22o 

St.  Domingo,  emigrants,  68,  199,  223 

Stender,  F.  W.,  273 

Stewart,  Mrs.,  127 

St.     George's     Bay,    early     Spanish 

name   for  Charleston   Harbor,  17 
St.  George's  Dorcl'iester  Church.  36fl 
St.  James  Cioosecreek.  306 
St.  Marv's  Church.  199 
St.  Micliacl's  Church,  64,  90,  155,  259, 

313.  356,  375 
Stoll,  Justinus,  167 
Stoney,  John,  273 
StoneV,  Mrs.  Samuel  G.,  8 
St.  Paul's  Parish,  225 
St.  Philip's  (liurch,  32,  38,  48,  64,  73, 

259,  306,  312,  317.  364 
St.  Philip's  Glebe.  .305,  311.  312,  314 
Strickland,  W.,  architect  of  College, 

308 
St.  Thomas   Parish,  364 
Stuart.  Col.  John.  239.  240,  247 
Stuart.  Sir  John.  239,  240 
Stuart,  Mrs.  John.  240 
Sumter,  Gen.  Thomas,  278 


Talvande,  Mme.,  222,   223 

Tarleton,  Col.,  187 

Toomer,  Dr.  .\nthony  V.,  299 

Toomer.  Dr.   Henrv   V.,  299 

Tornado  of  1811,  68,  150 

Trapier,  Mrs.  Paul.  156 

Trenholm.  Hon.  George  A.,  160,  333 

Trott.  Nicholas.  270,  271,  273 

Trott.  Mary,  270 

Tuomey,  Michael,  342 

Tuscarora  War,  20 

Tynte.  Gov.  Edward,  46,  281,  306 


\'anderhorst,      .\rnoIdus      (son      of 

Capt.  John).  64,  67 
\'an(icrliorst.  Gov.  Arnoldus.  159 
\'anderhorst  Creek,  17,  35,  57.  58,  77, 

164.   173.  176 
\  andcrhorst,    Elias     (son    of    Capt. 

John). 74 


386 


INDEX 


>'anderhorst,  Elias  (son  of  Gtov, 
Vanderhorst),398 

Vanderhorst,  Major  John,  the  immi- 
grant, 58 

Vanderhorst,  Capt.  John  (son  of 
immigrant),  58,  74 

Vanderhorst  John,  Jr.  (son  of  cap- 
tain), 64,  77 

Varin,  Jacques,  58 

Varin,  Susannah,  58 

Van  ^'elsen,  Garret,  188 

^'esey,  Denmark,  303 

Villepontoux,  Zachariah,  364,  365 

W 

^^'agene^,  Capt.  Frederick  W.,  247, 
248 

Wainwright,  Mr.,  99 

Waite,  Ezra,  94,  99 

Washington,  President,  101,  124,  267 

Washington,  Village  of,  335 

Washington,  Lt.  Col.  William,  102, 
187,  188,  189,  195 

Webber,  Miss  Mabel,  secretary  of 
the  South  Carolina  Historical  So- 
ciety, 8,  94 

Webster,  Daniel,  88 

Welch,  S.  E.,  190 

West  Point  Hill,  331 

Whalev,  Richard,  222 

Whitaker,  Chief  Justice,  366,  369 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  32 


White  Point,  58,  63,  64,  176,  177,  178 

Wilkes,  John,  316 

Wilkins  Fort,  63 

Williams,   George    W.,    Sr.,    200 

Williams,  George  W.,  200 

Williams,  Henry  T.,  192 

Williams,  John,  366 

Williamson,  William,  224 

Willis,  Mrs.  Edward,  127 

Winthrop,  Joseph,  224 

Wister,  Owen,  87 

Withers,  P  rancis,  298 

Witte,  Charles  Otto,  333 

Wragg,  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Peter  Mani- 

gault),  134,  298 
Wragg  (names  for  streets),  284 
Wragg,  John,  301 
Wragg,  Joseph,  271 
Wragg,  Samuel,  332 
Wright,  Sir  James,  127 
Wright,  Jermyn,  282 
Wright,  Major  John,  270 
Wright,  Richard,  270,  271 
Wright,  Robert,  Chief  Justice,  127 
^\  right,  Sarah,  270 


Yamassee  War,  20,  46,  190 
Yeaman's  Hall,  336 
Young,  Arthur  Rutledge,  104 
Young,  Henry  E.,  222 
Young,  Thomas,  74 


